


Those who speak reach Rome, so I guess I'll stay home

by Crazy_QuEenn



Series: When life gives you lemon you squeeze them in her eyes 'cause she is a bitch and nothing is for free [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: A whole lot of angst, ADHD, Angst, Bilbo is a Sweetheart, Crack, During The Hobbit, Dwalin Is A Softie, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, I don't know if there will be a lot more shipping though, I invented a language 'cause I don't know westron, I swear that eventually things will happen, I update extremely slowly, It's supposed to be crack but it became very angsty at some point, Language Barrier, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Middle-Earth is my original characters' world too, Modern Character in Middle Earth, Modern Girl in Middle Earth, Musical References, Nonbinary Character, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character-centric, POV Alternating, POV First Person, POV Original Character, POV Third Person, Sorry Not Sorry, The Hobbit - Freeform, They are stuck in a loop, Thilbo takes a long time to start happening, Thorin is difficult, Time Loop, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Unreliable Narrator, You can't trust any direct historical source, but also canon compliant, consider yourself warned, it's inspired by iberian romance languages, no mary sue, they are from the future, they are in college, trust me on this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:22:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 68,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27086272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_QuEenn/pseuds/Crazy_QuEenn
Summary: This is another take on the modern characters fall in Middle-Earth trope.Five people were camping one day when they fall in the past and it seems like they fell exactly when the retaking of Erebor was taking place. Argh, if only they had paid attention to their history class!"He looked like Gandalf, like, he really looked like Gandalf. You know, the wizard who defended Middle-Earth during hard times and stuff? Well, that Gandalf. Behind the Gandalf look-alike was a trail of thirteen...dwarves? Oh, and there was a… hobbit? That was strange. But the makeup was on point.“Guys… is it just me or…” I commented and all of the strange-looking people looked at us.They brandished their swords and axes and arrows and, oh God, there were so many weapons aimed at us that I felt quite unwell.“Quen son ellos? Ragadast, non m’avertiste que vinhas con companhya. Ben que non m’avertiste dy muy cousa…” Gandalf approached us, looking quite curious.Gandalf spoke in Old Westron, of course he did. Wait. Was it actually Gandalf? Maybe it was a reenactment, they often used Old Westron in those."Spoiler alert: it was not a reenactment.It's... it's something.Ps: this is not abandoned.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Original Female Character(s), Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield, Dwalin & Original Characters, Kíli (Tolkien)/Tauriel (Hobbit Movies), Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: When life gives you lemon you squeeze them in her eyes 'cause she is a bitch and nothing is for free [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979680
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	1. What’s passed apparently isn't the past

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Oh, Son of A---](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3822802) by [StrivingArtist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrivingArtist/pseuds/StrivingArtist). 



> Hello, I just realized I had not given credit to StrivingArtist for inspiring my work. I am so sorry, seriously. 
> 
> Anyway, this is my first fic yay.
> 
> I don't think this will get any attention, but I just wanted to say that this is kind of my passion project... So you guys don't get too lost, here are a few things you need to know:
> 
> \- Please don't hate on me, but I kind of imagined what would happen to Middle-Earth if it was a real place, like, more languages appearing, Arda being divided in different countries than the ones that exist in the novels... Hibera is where the characters come from.
> 
> \- I don't speak Quenya, or Westron or any other one of Tolkien's languages, so I kind of used the ones I knew to create different languages;
> 
> \- 'Westron' (which is not Westron at all but rather something I created to illustrate the language barriers) is inspired by the 'Iberian romance languages' and other southern European languages, mostly on Galician-Portuguese, which is a type of vulgar Latin. 
> 
> \- 'Neutral Modern Westron' or Neutro is basically neutral Portuguese mixed with French and Italian, kind of. They need a neutral because their accent and dialect change a lot between them, neutral is the closest to archaic.
> 
> If you speak Portuguese, or Spanish or Galician, you will probably understand what is being said. 
> 
> There might be some language inconsistancies as I'm still developing the languages I'm creating. 
> 
> Another thing, I still haven't fully developed other languages to illustrate the diversity of the 'modern age' where my ocs come from.
> 
> The movies and the book still exist in this reality, it's just that the movie is a questionable historical movie, kind of.
> 
> I think that's it... Oh and it's crack, okay? Oh and I might update really fast 'cause I have most chapters written already.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just the beginning of the journey...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this is my first fic, please be gentle. But do not hesitate on commenting your thoughts and what you think could be done for me to improve.
> 
> Also, if you read "Ager" that is Arda in modern, don't question it.

When I was young, I often wished I could be part of something, something amazing. I often thought this world, our world, was too mean to me and people like me. Misfits, that is what you would call us. So, I always hoped I could be somewhere else. Nowadays I found out that the world is filled with so called misfits and that accepting and loving oneself is the only cure to all the hurt and pain this society causes. Moreover, I am sure that no matter which world you live in, if you are a misfit somewhere, you are a misfit anywhere. 

The point is, I love myself. Unfortunately, I think all the wishing and dreaming… well, I think someone heard me. And you know the saying: be careful with what you wish for.

* * *

✵

“Have you charged your stuff yet? Everybody is waiting!” I yelled, yelling always got results.

“Wait some more then, I’m charging the news on my phone so I can read it later!” Será answered from upstairs.

As always, she had already packed everything before me, but she told me the news was not something she could have downloaded the day before: ‘it’s not how the news work!’ she told me earlier. That day we were all going to camp and Será had been the first to pack everything and the last to join us downstairs, so there waiting with me were Velaar, Lumi and Alê as well. They were all very close friends of ours.

“Oh my Eru, I wish I was that focused on the news.” Lumimel said.

I met Lumi when we started going to the same college last year. Lumi followed the religion of old. She believed in Eru and other deities. I honestly only remembered some. That religion had started fading ever since the elves had gone away. But she was one of the few that had gone back to it. Lumi was dark skinned and short, her eyes were brown and her curly dark hair went to her shoulders. She was holding a heavy backpack that mirrored mine and the other girls’. I actually held two, because I was bringing my guitar as well.

“Can’t you update yourself in three days when we get back?” I yelled again, making the other girls wince.

“You are the worst.” Alê raised her brows and massaged her temples.

Alelebela, or Alê as we called her, was my childhood friend, we had met when we were both being bullied by the same girl. She was the opposite of Lumi, she was tall and slender, but she also had very dark skin, her eyes were very dark as well. She wore beautiful brown and auburn braids that nicely framed her face. She believed in southern deities that history often did not discuss, it gave the impression that the existence of these people had been erased. It had, to be honest. 

“Yeah, let your sister breathe, Barvo.” Velaar joined in.

Velaar started going to the same high-school I did right after I transferred, where she met Alê and they became friends. However, we only met because later on we ended up going to the same college. It was sheer luck that we became friends, to be honest. No matter, she was great and I did not regret it. Velaar was tall and slender like Alê. She had light skin, hazel eyes and chestnut hair, it was very long and she had hairbangs that made her look even sweeter than she was. I never knew what her beliefs were, I never bothered to ask.

“Yeah, you are so annoying!” Será said in a taunting tone, she then joined us, “All done.” She smiled.

Será was my sister, although we did not look alike. She was tall, with tan skin, and brown eyes, her hair was long like Velaar’s and it was in a very dark auburn tone. She was two years younger than me. She was a smart girl and a prankster, and for some reason she also happened to be my best friend. She was very interested in history research, hence the waiting, the news had just published an article regarding the retaking of Erebor ‘The truth behind Thorin’s company’. “Are you actually interested in that? I prefer the myth told by Bilbo, it’s more exciting!” I told her.

“Well, I know you love the whole myth thing that Bilbo wrote, but history is more than hearing only one source. You should have read the reports written by Ori, it's an eye opener, in my opinion.” Alê commented.

“Maybe you should have read the Silmarillion as well.” Lumi agreed, “It’s great to give you a better understanding of Ager’s third age.”

I rolled my eyes, I had read Ori’s report, I just did not find it as interesting. We started leaving and I closed the door behind me.

“Bye, Mamie!” I waved my hand at my granny who was looking at us from the window of the second floor, she waved back smiling.

“You better walk fast if you don’t want to get there when it’s dark.” She advised, speaking loudly from where she stood.

I nodded and we all turned our backs on her. 

My grandmother's village was old but not too old, it was built after men took over what people used to call Middle-Earth. Now it was rather hard to see any other race other than men, sometimes you could see an orc on the streets begging for money, and once in a while a hobbit could appear in front of you to trade or something, but they usually never stayed in the big cities, although things were changing in these recent years.

The village was built in stones and it was surrounded by fortified walls and small arches ready to be barred with little effort. This kind of village was very easy to be found in any area that had been conquered by Gondor’s empire, Hibera was no exception. Once they took over a city, the place was fortified to get ready for any assault. Our society was built on war, so nothing to be surprised. Now we were peaceful and the only reminder that tied us back to out twisted past was those small villages scattered through Ager. Well, that and history lessons.

We walked for some minutes and soon we had already reached the edge of the village. We went under one of the stony arches, the only one that did not have a huge iron portcullis, surprisingly enough they were so well-kept that they still could be closed if the town’s mayor desired. Lumi touched the arch.

“God, this is old.” 

“Yes, these walls are around five hundred years old, it’s crazy to think that the stone was so well-kept for so many years.” Será smiled.

“Are you guys ready for this journey?” Velaar smiled.

“Let’s go!” Alê agreed, excited as we all took a step out of the village.

“To adventure!” I exclaimed.

* * *

✵✵

The sun felt scorching hot and I was sure that soon I would have to say bye bye to my skin. I looked around and the wheat fields seemed never ending. We were supposed to take a path that led right in the woods, now we had reached the top of a hill, and we were surrounded by golden fields instead of getting the protection that the woods offered against the sun,

“Are you sure we are on the right track?” Alê asked me with a scrunched up face, the sun was messing with our eyes too.

“Yeah, sorry, hon… but we’ve been walking for hours.” Lumi, stepped in our conversation, her hair ran freely and wildly as the wind whispered unintelligible things in our ears.

Although the weather was hot, it was also very windy. Será, Velaar and I, we all had our hair tied. I had a high ponytail, Velaar just held half of her hair at the back of her head and Será was wearing a single braid.

“Barvo, you are a lost, lost puppy and we all know that. Just give in and let Será lead the way, please.” Velaar agreed with the other two.

Será smirked with the comment and gave me that smug look that only my sister could do. 

I just shrugged, I guess they had a point. I wasn’t going to put up a fight because of something as stupid as this. Also, I was very tired because I held two bags. The five of us were going camping at the ruins of an ancient castle. I was supposed to lead the way, however, I had clearly lost it. According to Será, I had taken a wrong turn. We followed her as she changed the direction. Apparently I really had messed up. It took us some time tracking the way we had taken so we could find where I had supposedly gone the wrong way.

Two hours later when we had finally arrived, we all just threw our bags and slumped on the ground. Once we had finally calmed our racing hearts from such a long day of walking, we looked around. That was when I finally had the chance to admire where we were. The ruins of the castle may not have been quite an impressive sight, all that was left was its grey foundation, however, if you squinted and used a large part of your imagination then maybe you could have a slight idea of what it was once. I could see it, largely because I had seen what it looked like from old illustrations that laid in the village’s museum. 

“Wow, this place has a strange energy. Can you guys feel it?” Lumi asked around.

I hadn’t actually thought of that. But once she mentioned it, I started to feel it as well. The ruins used to be a mighty and intimidating castle. It felt alive somehow, as though it actually had feelings. I wondered if the souls of those who had faded here were still lost, if leaving this place would hurt too much. Maybe they stayed here trying to hold on to memories that were no more. Sadness and regret of what was lost sipped through. This place used to thrive and now it meant nothing to those who lived close by.

Alê nodded and smiled. Lumi and Alê were both believers of energies and stuff. I didn’t know whether I believed it or not. But I could see what they were talking about so I nodded anyway. I could see on the corner of my eyes Será shuddering. 

“Stop it! We are going to sleep here, guys! I don’t need nightmares festering my dreams!” She pouted. 

“Awe, baby! Sorry!” Lumi apologized. “You know I didn’t mean to scare you.” She gave a slight pat on Será’s shoulder. 

“I mean, it’s not that bad, Será, suck it up and stop being a baby.” I rolled my eyes, sometimes she annoyed the hell out of me.

“Fuck you, Barvo.” She flipped the bird.

“Well, fuck you too!” I flipped it back.

When I look back, we were very eloquent.

“Could you guys calm down for a minute?” Velaar scoffed as she started taking her stuff out of the bag to set camp. “Let’s focus, please.”

We then all followed her lead, although we were all a bit wary about the place. So maybe this idea of mine was not the brightest. We all had been ready if any creepers went around our camp with pepper sprays, but how to protect one from ghosts? We finished setting camp and lit a fire. I took my guitar, music always helped to send some good vibes when things felt gloomy.

“Who wants to sing the watercolour song?”

They all nodded and cheered.

“Wait, let me join.” Lumi took her ukulele which she kept inside her bag.

We counted to three and we started playing.

> "In a blank sheet of paper  
> I can draw a yellow sun  
> And in five or six straight lines  
> I've built myself a castle
> 
>   
> If a pencil runs along my fingers  
> I got myself a glove  
> If I make it rain,  
> Within a second I drew a shelter
> 
>   
> If ever I spot a small white drop of paint  
> In a blue piece of paper  
> Then, now I can see a seagull  
> Flying in the sky.”
> 
> \- [Aquarela](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j7dioVlI0A), Toquinho

We all sang together and the others applauded once we were done. Lumi and I stood up and bowed in a mocking way.

“Why thank you all, my dearest.” Lumi said in a pompous accent and I cackled.

After that, we spent a long time chatting as the world started fading into darkness and the strange sounds of the night.

* * *

✵✵✵

A howling sound woke me up and I stood up in an instant, I looked around and our small fire had extinguished, actually, it was completely gone, like it had never existed in the first place. The girls had all but disappeared. I shook my head, that was not possible, they would not just leave me alone like that. I stood up from my bedroll… actually I stood up from the grass, and scratched my neck. No need for panic, panic has never helped anyone before, it would not start now. I just needed some deep nice breaths and everything would be fine. Yes, everything was A-okay. I shook my head, I was going to kill those dumbasses. Pranking was such a stupid thing to do right now. I mean, the ruins were already aggravating enough. Maybe they had gone exploring the darn thing… which… was nowhere to be seen? 

Also, the howling sound, I should better keep an eye out for that. 

Back up a second. The ruins were gone. The ruins were gone. I did a double take and… they really had gone poof. Okay. Yes, it sounded really healthy. 

“Girls?!” I stage whispered, as though that would have changed a thing… Damn, I am so stupid sometimes. “Girls! I swear to God this ain’t funny!” I raged out. They still did not answer. I felt my blood boiling. Let us just say patience was not my forte. “I’mma fucking murder yall and butcher ya and maybe burry ya if I’m feeling nice! So help me God if I find any of ya mothafuckas!” For some reason, whenever I stressed out my accent thickened, which probably pissed a lot of people. 

“Y'all are dead ta me, ya hear me?!” I growled “I swear, these girls are crazy in the head…” I angrily muttered. Then I took my phone out of my bag, the only thing I could find, and tried calling them but of course I had no signal and the damn ruins had disappeared and my friends were apparently missing. “Damn it! Fucking shit” I collapsed on the ground and hugged my knees, staying in a fetal position and started to cry.

“Barvo?!” I heard right behind me. "Barvo!!! There you are! You scared the shit out of us, man! Oh my God, are you okay?!" Velaar's voice was filled with relief with a slight edge of a worried tone. 

I looked up and reached for her, hugging her legs and crying louder. She petted my head and I looked up as the whole gang was behind her.

"Listen, I love you, but we don't have time for this. Take your bags and let's roll. I don't know what's up but we have to move. I heard a loud howl, it wasn't too far, and I don't feel comfortable about sitting here like an easy prey." Alê touched my shoulder and I stood up a bit shakily.

"W-what about the ruins? And where you guys?!" I looked around warily.

"Worry about that later, let's go." Será took my arm and pulled me along with her at a fast pace.

"B-but my bags!"

"I got them, don't worry." Velaar showed me and gave them back.

I came back to my senses and started walking on my own. We took the same way to the village.

"Guys what the fuck was that about?" I whispered 

"Okay, so we all woke up to a howling and the ruins were gone and so were you! I think you slept walked though, so not such a mystery there… then you screamed like a banshee and we just followed your sound. Which is the reason why we are going 'cause if we could hear you… then so could the thing that howled." Lumi reasoned.

"Oh." Yeah, that did make a lot of sense. Not the ruins part, but you know… 

I frowned. Looking back, everything looked different around here. I mean, I could sense a bit of familiarity, such as the hills that painted the landscape, the small lake that shone like a golden mirror with the lights of dawn. However, I could not see the house that used to be there close to the lake. Instead, there was a windmill at the top of one of the hills. Also, my granny’s village was not there anymore. It was nowhere to be seen.

“Guys…” 

Velaar, Alê and Lumi could look at the landscape and not notice some small differences, however, the landscape had changed too much. They looked at it and when I thought they had realised what was off, they all just looked at me, as if I was crazy. They seemed clueless, they did not know these valleys and hills and stretching wheat fields to see what I saw. Será, however, could retrace the landscape we were looking at in her sleep. And so, she gasped loudly.

“Oh God.”

“Yeah…” I muttered back.

The three girls stopped walking and turned to look at us. “What is it? We can’t understand the secret language of siblings.” Lumi demanded.

“Everything is different but the same.” I breathed out.

“What? Explain.” Alê frowned.

“We are where we were before, but there are things that look different.” Será stuttered. “Things are where they shouldn’t be.” And she explained what she had meant by that. “And the village is gone.”

“Holy shit.” Lumi exclaimed “What the fuck? And I mean, what the actual fuck? The ruins were one scary thing, but it was a small construction, your granny’s village is a whole other shit.” 

“Yeah…” I agreed. 

Also… things seemed to have changed from perspective, everything felt huge. After I actually stopped to analyze things… I realized how small I was looking. Actually, I realized how tall Alê, Velaar, and Será were all looking. I was now almost the same size as Lumi and she seemed to also notice that. She was also looking smaller. 

“Barvo… why are we so short?” Lumi asked. “Why are you all looking so tall?!”

“Oh God, what?” Alê looked down. “How hadn’t we noticed this before?” 

“I think they gradually shrinked down.” Velaar laughed.

“We are looking like children!” I pouted. 

That was just unacceptable. 

“Nah,” she said, but I could tell she didn’t believe in it, “you’re like 4’8 and Lumi is probably 3’2…” Será shrugged.

“ _Ladrones! Assassinos!"_ We heard someone screaming as he cut us off.

I could not see properly, but I could tell that a gigantic man passed very fast beside us in a sled lead by bunnies? 

“What. the Actual. Fuck?” Lumi’s face read pure confusion.

“I am confusion.” I agreed. “Let’s go girls, he didn’t seem happy and he was running from the same direction of the howling… I think we better follow him.”

And so we did, hiding behind trees and bushes, fortunately he stopped very shortly after passing by us or else we would not had been able to catch up. We went up to him and realized that he had stopped in front of another very old looking man. He looked like Gandalf, like, he really looked like Gandalf. You know, the wizard that defended Middle-Earth during hard times and stuff? Well, that Gandalf. Behind the Gandalf look-alike was a trail of thirteen...dwarves? Oh, and there was a… hobbit? That was strange. But the makeup was on point. 

“Guys… is it just me or…” I commented and all of the strange looking people looked at us. 

They brandished their swords and axes and arrows and, oh God, there were so many weapons aimed at us that I felt quite unwell.

“ _Quen son ellos?_ Ragadast, _non m’avertiste que vinhas con companhya. Ben que non m’avertiste dy muy cousa…”_ Gandalf approached us, looking quite curious.

Gandalf spoke in Old Westron, of course he did. Wait. Was it actually Gandalf? Maybe it was a reenactment, they often used Old Westron in those.

“Guys, did any of you take some Old Westron classes in college by any chance?” Alê muttered.

All of the people watching took some steps back, surprised by the new language. Technically it was the same language but like, really changed, but well. Wait, was it not a reenactment? Oh please let it be a reenactment. Damn me, why had I not taken Old Westron in college?! Damn it! Wait. We were in the past? Damn it, we were in the past. Damn it we were like… in the war of the Ring? Oh God, please no. Please let it be a sick, sick joke.

Unsurprisingly, Lumi and Velaar raised their hands. We all looked at them. 

“What? Historical languages are interesting.” Lumi shrugged and looked at Gandalf. “ _Olá, nus...”_ She turned to Velaar “How do you say lost?”

 _“Perdidas… nus perdidas muy muy.”_ Velaar nodded.

“I don’t think this is grammatically correct.” I grumped and they looked at me. “I took it in high school, okay? I remember some of it.” 

They started talking with some difficulty as I looked around. When were we? I was not a great student when it came to historical datings but I knew this time period quite well. I knew the war of the ring and the retaking of Erebor and basic information about the deities they believed in at the time. Which I considered pretty good. I knew like… the name of two Valar. And maybe four Maiar? Screw this, I would be a great historian. But I was actually a Westron literature major, maybe I could teach them some… well, modern Westron in the very least. If whatever language they were using could be called ‘Westron’. Archaic was so strange. Westron was a very old language, truth be said, it was so old that nobody understood archaic. It was as if I was hearing them and I could understand a word and then another, but the whole sentence did not make sense in the least. The only thing I could do was introduce myself.

“We are during the time of the retaking of Erebor.” Será whispered and I looked at her.

“How do you know that?”

“The company. The dwarves’ company.” 

“Damn. So… the movie casting was on point, then.” I commented. I had watched the movies about that time period. 

A great part of my knowledge came from an inaccurate historical movie which is never a great start. Not all of my knowledge relied on that though, I had read the books that Tolkien had translated (not the silmarillion). The problem was that nobody knew where the fantasy ended and where the actual history began.

“Yeah… how do you know this is actually Gandalf?” I raised a brow.

Será raised one as well “Gandalf? Mithrandir? Olórin? Tharkûn?”

Gandalf look-alike looked at her. “ _Son algũs dy m’apelidos, sí. Mays puoden chamar-mi dy_ Gandalf”

Okay, so turns out being able to introduce oneself came in handy. Será just looked smug.

Another howling sound was heard throughout the forest.

 _“Cranho que devamos curer… Suivan-nus! Cosemos mays tairde!”_ Gandalf nodded with his head for us to accompany him. 

_“Non’estais a parlar grave, Gandalf?! Nus mao conhecemo-los!”_ The guy that I clearly identified as Thorin Oakenshield spoke up. 

I might not have understood what was said, however I could tell he did not agree with Gandalf. Ugh, so I guess he really had trust issues. Hm… relatable.

 _“Quereis mismo discoutir iss’inquanto_ wargs _eston’a venar-nus ó prefieris abandoná-los cá?”_ Gandalf seemed angry.

Thorin grunted and nodded in embarrassing defeat, for him apparently.

“Let’s go! We are being hunt down by wargs.” Velaar said matter-of-factually.

Oh, so that was what was up then. Okay, fuck.

We ran as fast as we could and I could feel my heart trying to fly away from my chest, it was not the right time to panic. For the name of God, I could not panic now. Oh, by all heavens above me, please do not panic. So, I might have slightly peed in my pants but other than that I was fine, right? 

That was when we followed mister Gandalf in a tunnel of sorts. Then, there was a fight between him and Thorin oh, and there were elves. Oh God my brain hurt.

* * *

✵✵✵✵

“Bitch, are ya telling me that we are stuck in the past?” I mean, I had gathered as much but still. I still hoped it was just a stupid reenactment and a whole lot of makeup, no one can blame a dude for hoping.

“Yeah, I think so, hon.” Lumi made a face. 

“Oh man.” I sighted. “You know what? All I know about this time period in ‘Arda’ is that there are races, there is a war because of a ring they believed was magical or something. Which makes me wonder what these guys smoked ‘cuz this shit ain’t right!” I threw my bags down. We were in Rivendell, a beautiful temple that I had only heard of. Apparently it wasn’t even a temple, it was a castle of sorts. We had met elves and came to the conclusion we were the size of hobbits. The elves had given us a separate room from the dwarves, which was a relief. We needed to talk to each other.

“I know this is insane but at least we all know the bare minimum of Archaic, right?” Lumi commented. 

I shook my head “I’d be able to introduce myself and that’s about it. I know some of the grammar but I’m pretty sure this is useless.” 

Alê looked at Velaar. “How come you guys can understand it?” 

“We were forced to have classes completely in Archaic, this is why. However, the professor’s accent was very off.” Lumi only agreed to Velaar with a nod.

Someone knocked on the door and we all turned around.

“Come on in!” Alê yelled. 

Será face-palmed. “I think Modern Westron is not their thing.”

We all looked at Velaar then at Lumi.

“I don’t know how to say that.” They both said it in chorus, which would have been way funnier if we were not here. 

“Come in?” Velaar tried in Modern and no one answered.

“We already tried that.” Será rolled her eyes and shook her head, heading towards the door and simply opening it, gesturing for whoever was outside to come in.

“Without the elvish influence Westron changed completely, so don’t worry if you got it wrong.” Lumi commented and smiled at Velaar.

She was a linguistic major, so it was not surprising.

It was Lord Elrond. I recognized him because he was the one that received us when we came. I noticed only some people looked like the actors in the movies. Elrond looked way younger and way sadder than he did in them. It was a sadness deep within his soul, barely noticeable, but still there. 

_“Sejais ben vindas à casa mya.”_

“Wait, why is he using the feminine plural?” I asked and frowned. “ _vindos._ ” I pointed at myself.

 _“V_ _indos?”_ He frowned too.

“Yeah, _vindos, ben vindos, vindos."_ Alê agreed.

 _“Sejais ben vindos?_ ” Elrond asked again and we all nodded. “ _Perdona-me, non percebi que éreis ũ don.”_ don meant man, I could do this. 

You are in danger, you should not come out to anybody, you could die, I thought. Well, I kind of always had a death wish anyway.

“ _Eu don, non”_ I’m not a man, basic stuff. _"Eu dona, non."_ I’m not a woman _._

“ _Ilo?”_ Elrond asked.

Ilo? what in the world was ilo again? 

“ _Sí, ilo.”_ Lumi answered before I could

“Ilo is like they.” Velaar answered helpfully. 

“Wait, they have an equivalent of that here, ugh… I mean now?” 

“Yeah.”

Okay then.

“ _Lo quê viestes cá’axer? Per quê estáveis a suivir los anons?”_

_“Anons? Non, non. Nus, suivirmos anons non.”_

Anons, dwarves. _Suivirmos_ , we follow. _Non_ was no. So, from what I gathered, we not follow dwarves.

I was thinking and as I said, I knew the basics of Erebor and dwarven culture. Maybe the movies had made me fantasize too much about the past without actually thinking it through. It seemed that not thinking things through was my best quality.

“Guys, what if we are supposed to prevent the Durin’s fall?! Why else would we be sent back exactly now?!” 

“Bad luck?” Será deadpanned. “Besides, I am pretty sure we shouldn’t temper with time.”

“Or maybe we should?... They have a point, Será. Sorry.” Lumi agreed with me.

I fist bumped her.

Elrond just looked at our little discussion with his eyebrows raised to his hairline. I gestured for him to wait a bit. If he got it? That was a whole other story. After all, gestures held different meanings across time. If I showed a thumb up nobody would get it at that moment.

“Are we with the dwarves?” I insisted. “We all know how the retaking of Erebor goes, we all read the Hobbit. And nobody lies to me now ‘cause I know it’s mandatory in every school in _Hibera_.” I pointed a finger at every person in the room that knew Modern. “Are you guys actually going to let them die? I have to say that the only time period that interests me is now, so don’t fucking ruin my dreams! We can finally discover Middle-Earth’s secrets and what was the reality behind the myths they told in the Hobbit!” I got excited, I might not have been the best history student, but I knew the third age decently. Plus, I loved literature, so this was my opportunity. 

“I’m in!” Lumi smiled and I raised my fist.

“Yes! I knew there was a reason I loved you, honey!” I hugged her by her shoulder.

“Listen, Thorin went insane and died for a reason…” Será commented. “We don’t know the consequences and what changing the timeline would affect.”

“Come on! We can save so many people, Será!” I pouted.

"I'm with Será, if there is any chance he becomes like the dude in the movie or in the book… I'm not really sure it's a great idea." Alê commented.

"I'm with Lumi and Barvo, if we are here maybe it is because we need to save them… there isn't only Thorin who will die, there will also be Kíli and Fíli.”

"Listen, why else would we be… miniaturized? So we can work with the small people too. Maybe we should befriend Bilbo!!!" All of our clothes were smaller, come to think of it… and our bags thank God. 

"I think we may have ingested some poisonous stuff… 'cause we all know all the magic in Middle-Earth are myths. Maybe hallucinations caused by some component on the air?" Velaar wondered. 

"Probably. But why are we still the same size?" Alê pointed at Será and Velaar.

"Wait, Será, turn your head." Lumi asked.

Será did and we all saw that she had… pointed ears

"Bro! What the fuck! Hey, Barvo, Lumi, turn your heads as well." Alê took some steps back

We both did as she told us too. I took some of my pink braids out of the way.

"Your ears!!!! Oh my God!" They all laughed. “Lumi’s ear is still okay, but you look like Dumbo!”

Whatever it was that made them laugh was not our most important problem. So we kind of ignored them, going back to the matter at hand.

"Are we with the dwarves? It's an important part of the war against… you know, the evil dude. If they have Erebor, the 'light' will reach more easily Mirkwood and Dale will be rebuilt and you guys know this is important." Lumi argued, "Let's vote: who is against helping the dwarves?"

Alê and Será raised their hands.

"Who is for?"

Velaar, Lumi and I raised our hands.

"Okay, we are saving the dwarves."

We turned to Elrond who was probably ready to murder us after such a long chat.

" _Nus sauvar los anons."_ Lumi explained.

_We save dwarves._

" _Sauvar los anons dy quê_?" Elrond approached her and bent over to hear her.

That was so offensive.

" _Estupidex."_ Lumi answered and nodded.

 _Stupidity,_ that was the same word.

Elrond simply laughed.

" _Ben, será ũa tacha difícil. Dy u sóis?"_

Where do you come from.

 _"Nus somos dy Arda,_ _Terra-Média,_ _Hibera."_

Middle-Earth, Hibera.

_"Dy u?"_

Where from.

_"Cá."_

From here.

He frowned at that. " _Cuando?"_

When.

 _"Non d’ay hoje: hoje é passado… nus, nus somos dy presente."_ Velaar walked up to them.

Something about time, I did not get it though. 

He raised his eyebrows. " _Cosemos mays tairde nu jantar. Per inquanto, descansai."_

With that he left and closed the door. 

"So… what happened?" Alê asked.

"It doesn't matter, I told him we are here to save the dwarves, but I didn't tell him about Erebor. We all know that Elrond would have stopped them and Erebor can't fall in the orcs' hands. Then I told him we come from here and hopefully he understood that we come from another time period. He then invited us for dinner. Oh, and he told us to rest." Lumi summarized. "Now, on to our stuff, did our stuff get miniaturized too?" She looked at her bag and started searching for stuff.

All of her stuff was still her size.

"OH MY GOD? IS YOUR UKULELE STILL THERE?" Será took her bag from her hands and took out the musical instrument. "Oh God, this is so Goddamn adorable!!!! Look at how tiny it is now!!!" She hugged the thing and Lumi took it back, glaring at Será.

"Chill."

"And is Barvo's guitar small too?!" She approached me and took my guitar case, which was smaller, which was a big tell. "AWEEEEE!" 

"Okay…" Alê looked around. "I think Lumi is like a hobbit with shoes. Maybe you are one as well"

I looked at my feet. "Maybe, but I ain't taking my shoes off, the stone looks cold."

"I think it's wood." Alê frowned.

"I THINK I MIGHT GET A SPLINTER, THEN." If I did not want to take my shoes off then I would not.

"Could you scream like, 90% less?"

"Sorry, adhders have no volume control, I didn't mean to scream." 

"I want to take out my shoes though." Lumi did as she said she would and then made a sound. "Oh God, is hairy."

"So I guess the tales of the hobbits are true then."

"You know that for them to get their skin so thick takes years of walking barefoot, right? You don't have feet made for walking bare even though they look like a pair of hobbits' feet." Será commented.

I took out my own shoe and it was… normal feet. “Hey, I think I’m a dwarf.”

“Makes sense, according to the documents we still have they were very stubborn people.” Será agreed.

"Whatever. I just wanna take my guitar and play something." 

"What? Why?" 

"Don't know, I'm just in a mood."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I swear it will get better as it goes, and by the way, I have a question: should I post the translation of what is being said or are you fine with being almost as clueless as my characters? 
> 
> Also, I am constantly editing my work so there are no mistakes, but there might still be some. If you ever see a mistake, feel free to tell me. 
> 
> Also, tell me what you think, okay??
> 
> If you want to hear the watercolour song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j7dioVlI0A


	2. You do what you can with what you got

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a lot of singing and a lot of convincing to be done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, in this chapter there are some 'codes', whenever a character just happens to understand archaic, it will be between brackets. Whenever the archaic form and the modern form are almost the same, I put it in bold.
> 
> Btw, I have a lot os chapters already written so I thought of posting this one as well...

## Será

Será was not very surprised when Barvo decided singing was going to solve their problem somehow. While they settled somewhere she went on a walk through the elvish garden. Será had seen some reconstructions of Rivendell, or what they imagined Rivendell looked like. It had not drawn a kind image of what the elvish fortress looked like, it reminded her of southern architecture. Everything was wide open and they would let the wind go unstopped, maybe that was why it was so cold. But for some reason she liked it. She liked the wind lapping her skin and ruffling her hair. It felt freeing. 

She had decided it was something she had been needing for a while, some nice breaths the air felt clear in a way she had never tasted before. A smile crept its way on her face as she felt the grass under her feet, she had seen everyone else not wearing them and it was probably a cultural thing, she was all in favor of being respectful of culture. It felt refreshing, it was the end of summer and she could feel the sun bathing the whole valley. It was nice. In the background she heard her sibling playing a song that reminded her of spring for some reason.

She was so focused in daydreaming that she did not see the small man that had walked her way. She stepped on his foot which made him growl, she looked down and took some steps back, he started swearing loudly, she put her hands out telling him to be quieter, but it seemed he could not understand her. She stared at him, it was Thorin, the king under the mountain. Oh that was not good for them. He got red and screamed at her, the song stopped playing and she could hear people coming their way as the dwarf kept making a scene.

“I’m sorry.” She repeated multiple times to no effects.

Lumi said something and he seemed to calm down. 

Será walked away, she did not need more drama in her life, being stuck in the past was dramatic enough. She called Barvo who then called the others, who happened to call Thorin. Lumi told her something about it being a way of excusing themselves.

It actually was even more surprising that the king accepted, he was probably too curious about them to keep it in. Será felt very uncomfortable by his presence. He was sitting and brooding but he seemed to get some of what they were saying. 

“Let’s sing a dwarven song!” Barvo smiled.

“The only dwarven song we know it’s a translation sung by Ed Sheeran and it talks about the destruction of Laketown. I don’t think we should sing it, they wouldn’t understand it anyway.” Será commented, though he did not understand it, if he did they would be giving them a peek of the future.

In every time-travelling movie she had watched they said the number one rule was not to talk about the future to locals or else they would try to change it in terrible ways.

“Your point?” They seemed quite disappointed.

“I think we should sing something that doesn’t speak about the future. He would probably understand a bit and he wouldn’t try to change important things.” Será looked at him and he was about to say something.

“Okay, it does make sense.” Lumi agreed.

“Well then. Let’s sing ‘if this road’.” 

Everyone agreed, they all looked at Thorin who was now smoking. The song was in archaic, it was a song from Old Gondor. 

> “ _If this road, if this road_
> 
> _Could be mine_
> 
> _I would tile it, I would tile it_
> 
> _To make it shine_
> 
> _With thousands, with thousands_
> 
> _Of diamonds_
> 
> _Just to see, just to see_
> 
> _Him passing by._
> 
> _By the roadside, by the roadside_
> 
> _There is a wood_
> 
> _Which is called, which is called_
> 
> _Lonely woods_
> 
> _Deep within, deep within_
> 
> _There lives an angel_
> 
> _Who has stolen, who has stolen_
> 
> _My heart_ ”

It was a deep, sad tune that reached her ears then her heart. The voice sounded melancholic, reminding something she never knew. Barvo had that power, she sang along with them.

> “ _If I’ve stolen, if I’ve stolen_
> 
> _Your heart_
> 
> _You have stolen, you have stolen_
> 
> _Mine too_
> 
> _If I’ve stolen, if I’ve stolen_
> 
> _Your heart, now_
> 
> _It’s because, it’s because_
> 
> _I wish you well ."_ ****
> 
> _\- Se essa rua._

Lumi sang the rest, her voice was so sweet, sweeter than Barvo’s. It was then that Bilbo joined them. He went quietly and sat by Thorin’s side. He seemed wary to sit close by but Alê waved him over, he was probably more scared of the foreigners that had just appeared than Thorin, which was never a great sign.

Lumi and Barvo gave each other a high five at the end of the song, Thorin nodded in acknowledgement. If Será was a pessimistic person she would not have seen it the way it really was, a weird compliment. He said something, Lumi answered and he nodded again. 

“He wanted to know how we knew this song. Apparently this was a song the dwarves composed when they were exiled. I told him that people from Gondor heard it and sang it and they brought it through the world, apparently we changed a large part of the lyrics…"

"I thought this song was from Gondor…" Será frowned.

"If it helps, I thought the same thing." Alê agreed.

Será looked at Thorin.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?"

 _"Credo que eston a preguntar-vus si percébeis lo que eston a cosar."_ Bilbo turned to Thorin.

Lumi nodded and smiled. "Bilbo understands what we say, or at least as long as we speak in neutral Modern." 

"Tell him to speak neutral archaic, then!" Barvo exclaimed.

"This is not how it works." Lumi scratched her nose and looked down. 

" _Mestre anon, sóis el Rey sob a montanya, non? Sóis Thorin Escudo-de-Carvalho_? (Are you Thorin Oakenshield?)" Velaar cut to the introducing part of the conversation.

It was one the few things Será was able to understand. 

" _I am_." 

Será was thrilled to hear that the verb to be was still the same. 

"Nice to meet you." She used neutral and hoped for the best.

Thorin raised a brow and nodded again. 

* * *

✵

Dinner was fun, to say the least. Velaar was sitting on her left and Barvo on her right, they were munching their food down. The dwarves were screaming at each other, there was only salad to eat and some other vegetables that Será pretended to like and there was a food fight ready to start, Será could feel the tension rising. 

There was a shouting contest. Elrond said something calmly and then Elrond's guests and the other elves turned their heads towards them. 

"They want to know our age. And what we were doing following the dwarves. We need to tell them about our journey."

Será was about to warn them about the majority age in Middle-Earth, but it was too late, Lumi answered earnestly as she introduced them. Everything stopped then they started shouting things like 'they are children', 'babies!' And for some reason, Será caught the word 'bet'. She rolled her eyes. 

"You guys can't say things like that!" Será face-palmed. “Lumi, can you translate what I’m saying?”

“Sure, hon.”

“We are here to help, we have useful knowledge.” Better leave the future thing out, she would have maybe entrusted Gandalf with the truth, but she was not that sure about the dwarves. 

She waited for Lumi to translate.

“We are not kids where we come from.” Another pause, “We know you have a key to somewhere long lost, master dwarf.” She knew that Erebor was supposed to be kept a secret from Elrond. 

Thorin turned pale, Dwalin looked suspicious, Elrond looked confused and Gandalf seemed thoroughly impressed. She was proud. Then Gandalf started laughing. 

“ _Credo que tenyamos que cosar mays tairde.”_

“Gandalf wants to talk. Later, not now.” Velaar beat Lumi to it. 

“Okay, then.” Alê agreed. 

She guessed they really were helping in a historical event in the end. What a day. Nice dream. The next day she better wake up close to the ruins of Redstone, even the creepiness of that place was more alluring. Change the past, oh what a stupid idea.

* * *

✵✵

From any way you looked at, things were going insane. Será had been damn sure it was all a dream and they had not signed up to a stupid journey that could possibly bring them to their death. She looked at herself in a ‘mirror’ or at least something they called a mirror. She was still an elf. She walked around their room and looked at everybody who was still sleeping, her friends now consisted of two elves, a hobbit and her sibling was a dwarf. The only good things were the elven tunics and dresses.

She closed her eyes and wished she could be back home. ‘There’s no place like home’ she repeated it in her mind three times and tapped her feet against one another, it worked for Dorothy so maybe it could work for her. She opened her eyes and she was still in the same place. She sighed and hugged her pillow. Seemed that that was really going to happen. Well then, better be ready for their suicidal mission. She tried waking up everybody, they all just groaned and Barvo muttered something about ‘the square of pi is the answer!’ and ‘the comet is gonna crash!’. Typical Barvo. 

After a few minutes trying to wake them, Será felt something boiling. Was she, who did not want to be part of this the only one taking it seriously? It triggered something and next thing she knew, she was throwing her pillow on the head of however dared to keep their eyes closed. In a few seconds, she had everybody awake. 

“We need a plan because I am not dying here.” Será stated, “First, we need to convince Gandalf, he will be easier, tell him the truth.”

“What if he tells it to Thorin?”

“Then he believes it is for the best, we all know he is a wise man.” Barvo intruded.

“No,” Alê answered drily “I think he won’t say a thing because he knows that time should not be tempered with… unlike some other people.” She gave a meaningful glance at the three that voted for saving the dwarves.

“That is so passive-agressive.” Lumi muttered.

“So, we need a plan.”

“First, let’s say the things we know of to Gandalf.” Será insisted, “Maybe he can turn us back into humans.” She pointed outside “We need to prove our worth survival wise.” Barvo rolled their eyes and she flicked the back of their head which led them to grunt a ‘how do we get along?’ “How to put it kindly? We are not used to this environment. And we will get our asses easily handed to us.” 

“I feel like I’m being attacked.” Barvo complained.

“You’re not.” Será answered at the same time Alê deadpanned ‘You are.’

“Listen, we all will have a hard time but we need to make do, we need to learn.” Velaar announced, “Well, Será will have an okay time.”

Será knew that she was known for being athletic because of Barvo’s insistence that she was the best. Truth be told she was not half as good as everybody thought.

“What I mean to say, we need to use our ‘modernity’ in our advantage. Here, this is magic.” She took out her phone. “I want each of you to keep it well hidden, we can’t have it broken.” 

“One more thing. We are not a hundred percent helpless. At least we can all say we are great walkers.” Lumi commented “And you guys act as if we were doomed already, we might not be perfectly adapted, but we have some skills. I know how to sell it to Gandalf, guys, trust me on this.”

They all nodded.

“And keep your chargers well, else you know your only advantage will be gone.” 

“I think we have a small genius.” Lumi smiled devilishly.

“Did you ever doubt it for a second?” Barvo crossed their arms and smiled proudly, “That’s my little sister.” 

“Okay, back to the plan.” Velaar stood up from her bed.

“So, Gandalf.”

* * *

✵✵✵

They went to talk to Gandalf, Será told them they should take Alê as she was one of the eldest and he would probably never listen to a seventeen year old anyway. Lumi came along as she was officially the eldest and a translator. They went and left Velaar, Barvo and Será.

Lumi being the eldest was not the only reason why she was chosen to lead the plan, it was something she had said that inspired the others:

_“We are not a hundred percent helpless. At least we can all say we are great walkers.” Lumi commented “And you guys act as if we were doomed already, we might not be perfectly adapted, but we have some skills. I know how to sell it to Gandalf, guys, trust me on this.”_

They all had agreed, she was their safest bet. She was the one who believed the most in their success. She would sell it like you would sell candy to an unsupervised child entrusted with money. Or at least they hoped she did. 

“Hey, while we wait, do you want to do something?” Barvo asked, they never were one to wait for too long.

“What do you have in mind?” Velaar asked.

“I need to dance.” Of course it would be it.

“Just be a little patient.” Será sat close to Barvo who stood up.

“Nah, If I stay one more second I will lose it!” They tugged at their pink braids.

Barvo used to be taller than her but ever since they came into this place they had become smaller which pleased Será more than she cared to admit. It was still strange to have to look down at their sibling. Velaar tried to pull Barvo down to their bed again, but they escaped their grasp and took their phone and earphones and left the room faster than they could blink.

“Damage control?” Velaar looked at Será.

“Yeah.”

They went after Barvo, it should not be that hard to find a dwarf wearing long bright-pink braids with a sidecut. They looked frantically before they did something that would make their plan become harder. They went to the gardens, ironically, from what they all had studied, Barvo would have been a hobbit, they were basically a huge food fan and a nature lover. They may have never taken into account Barvo’s wilderness, that stubborn and impulsive side that only followed the will of their heart. How could they have forgotten that?

When they went to the garden, there was a crazed Barvo dancing and shaking, following the choreography of a song, it was probably an edm song, judging by how robotic their moves looked. Barvo looked possessed if you did not know what robotic dancing was. According to Será’s calculations, they had just started dancing. 

“Barvo!” Será went after them. 

She took their earphones, probably right after the beat dropped since the moves had gone more erratic. Barvo looked at her as if she had betrayed them. Velaar came later on laughing.

“No offense, but when you dance without music it looks ridiculous.”

“I didn't want to disturb you.” 

“Too late for that.”

“Girl, I love you but b…” Barvo stopped and tapped at Será’s shoulder.

Será turned around and saw Kíli looking at them frowning, quite frightened. 

“Hey…" Será waved. 

Velaar took both the hands of Será and Barvo and pulled them far from the brothers. 

"Goodbye." Velaar said fastly.

Kíli both just waved back, slightly shocked. 

"Are you insane?! Things are already hard, now because of you he will think we are the spawns of evil." Será hissed.

“Did we just encounter prince Kíli without his brother?” Was the only thing Barvo answered.

They finally started walking at the same pace as Velaar, still hand in hand. Maybe they were afraid Barvo would run off or maybe they did not want to lose one of them. No matter, they were trying to find their chambers when they came face to face with Gandalf, Alê and Lumi. He smiled at them the way he always did when he saw little people, with some sort of affection.

"Did you guys explain what we needed to?" Velaar whispered to Alê loud enough to be heard by everyone else.

"Yes, we did, he agrees to help us." Alê smiled.

" ** _I will look_** _per_ ũa **_cure_ **_per vousso_ _**problem**._" 

Well, Será guessed what Gandalf had meant.

"Good. What about advising Thorin to take us with him _._ " Será asked.

"He is not so hot about that." Alê made a face. 

Será sighed.

 _"Voussa lengua é_ ũ _mystéryo (Your language is a mystery),"_ Gandalf petted his beard. " _mays credo perceber vousso parlar (but I believe I am understanding what you are saying)."_ He smiled. _"I **agree to help you with Thorin.** " _He smiled.

It sounded a bit like a neutral westron.

"I said there was a neutral archaic!" Barvo said in pure disbelief.

"There is not." Velaar interjected "It just so happens that it sounds almost exactly like neutral modern. Plus, I don't think you should focus on this." 

"I am grateful for what you are doing, Gandalf." Será smiled happily and hoped he would get it. 

_"Non inquietai-vus con isso, mays crucial é que estejais centrados en vus preparar per voussa mission."_ He smiled.

Será had no idea what just happened, but well. It did not matter, that had been the easy part, now on to making Thorin agree as well. They went to look for him, Gandalf was walking along with them. Gandalf seemed to be lost in thought when they found Dwalin, Thorin, Balin and Fíli having what looked like a meeting. All four turned toward them and Será felt her palms getting sweaty as she wriggled the fabric of her shirt. Something grabbed her guts and refused to let go, this would go wrong. Her eyes stared into the king's eyes, there was something about them that made her feel cold, she shivered.

Thorin talked and talked and talked. Alê, Barvo and Será looked confused and very focused on deciphering the enigma that was archaic. Then, Balin talked and talked and talked. He sounded very reasonable, even the three of them found themselves nodding with his words, what they meant mattered little. Then, Gandalf talked and talked and talked, sounding very sensible as well. Then, Thorin yelled and yelled and yelled, he reminded her of the monsters she saw in horror movies from the eighties. Then, Gandalf grew, literally, he grew and became enormous, the size of a mountain giant, if those were real. Then, Thorin fell in silence. He looked down, and muttered something, sounding defeated.

“Thorin agrees for us to go as long as we train with Dwalin and prove ourselves worthy until the end of this week.” Lumi told them helpfully when they asked what in the world was happening.

* * *

✵✵✵✵

It turned out that Lumi was very much correct. They trained the whole week mercilessly and although Dwalin certainly did not like elves, he treated them reasonably for some reason. He did not pretend they did not exist, like most of the company. Será was certainly thinking of everything and wondering if all of this shit was worth it. Of course it was not. But her friends did not seem to care. Well, if it was not something that affected her as well she would not have given a rat about the whole she-bang. But God damn it, it was affecting the life she hung on to so dearly. 

Then, she found out that she actually enjoyed training and that she was quite handy with weaponry. She was actually surprising a lot of people, years of archery and working with swords had paid off, and she was thankful for her enjoyment of sports. Alê was working her ass off, she was a warrior in their time, she even had a warrior name: Kianda, so unsurprisingly, she had made some good progress, her skill was with a bow and arrow and a long-sword. Lumi had great skill with two small swords due to her dancing lessons with sticks (do not ask). Velaar was basically a human weapon thanks to years of martial arts, but she chose to fight with a long-sword and two daggers, which worked well with her fighting style. Then, there was Barvo. Sweet, sweet Barvo who showed decent skill with an ax, unfortunately, they had years of not wanting to do any physical activity. Their luck was that they had a decent throw in tennis and badminton, which gave them strength in their arm and they were a good walker, they could easily walk six or seven miles a day, sometimes going for ten. Será did not judge her sibling’s life choice on purpose, it was just very hard not to do so. They asked for it. 

The week passed fast, with the training and singing and dancing they did. 

“Lift your arm a bit higher, and protect your vulnerable side!” Dwalin changed Alê’s foot position, over the week, that was a sentence Será had heard so many times that she already knew the meaning of it.

A grunting sound was heard, it was Thorin coming over. Thorin’s mood seemed to have dampened through the week, until the day when they were supposed to leave came. He was in a hurry, visibly, but he made an impression. Everything stopped and they all looked at him, the world seemed to fade whenever the king was around. No sound was made as he nodded to acknowledge Dwalin. He then threw Dwalin’s bag and said something Será was not expecting to understand.

“Pack your bags, all of you. We don’t have time to spare if we are to ever make it to the mountains in time.” Thorin was already on the move 

“ _Entendestes, gaiatos!_ ” Dwalin screamed but none seemed to move. He then seemed to have realized he had to speak slowly and in the most neutral way he could. “ ** _We go to the mountains, now_**.”

That finally did the trick and they all did not question his orders, they ran fast towards their chambers to do what they had to do. Onto the adventure Será never wanted to be a part of! 

They took their things Barvo came to help her packing, Será took her bags and threw some of her modern clothes out and added her new elven clothes in. Pepper spray? Check. Taser? Check. Phone? Check. Earphones? Check. Bags of some nice crisps? All set. She continued on checking item after item out of her mental list. Charger that charges with solar energy? Check again. Once she was done, everyone else was still packing. She went on to help Barvo the way they had helped her. Soon they were all done and were all walking out the door. 

“Barvo, are you taking your guitar?” Alê gasped.

“Yes, one never knows when one might need one’s bard skills.” Barvo said it in voice that actually sounded wise.

Será just saw right through it and flickered the back of their head.

"Or you just want to impress someone." Alê smirked.

"Who?! It's practically impossible for me to have a crush, what in the world, guys?" 

"But you do have some, I know that, you won't fool us, darling." Lumi smiled.

Barvo got so flustered that they looked like they had been slapped on each cheek and punched on the nose at least once. 

"Fuck you, I am not d-doing that!" They pouted.

"Hm, right!" Velaar taunted.

"Velaar you are the love of my life and I hate to disagree with you, but aren't you the one who has the hots for all of the three Durins?" Barvo tried looking witty, which would have worked if they were not so red.

"But we are not talking about me now, are we?" Velaar cackled.

"I hate you!"

"Does that mean we are right?" Será joined in.

"No." They shook their head and started walking faster as the others ran after them. 

"I am done with all the disrespect I am being subjected to!" They complained.

"Wait!" Velaar called laughing.

Barvo kind of ended up bumping into Thorin. 

"Oh shit." Será stopped running right away.

" _Sóis ũ bando dy gaiatos_ (you are a bunch of kids)" Thorin sounded disgusted, " _I vus? Non sóis digno dy ser ũ fí dy Mahal."_

She did not get the last part, but if the look of horror on both Velaar's and Lumi's face told on its own it was very bad. Barvo looked like a kicked puppy, Barvo usually looked like a puppy, but now it was more obvious than ever. Será growled which made Thorin look up at her. He had hooded deep blue eyes that reminded her of a frozen lake which was ironic considering how he had died (or, at least, was going to).

“Sí?” He glared at her, Será scrunched up her face in confusion.

“You know what? I don’t know why people want you to live.” Será grumbled. 

Maybe it was a dumb move because she did not know if that was understandable in archaic, but she did not care, she could be wasting her time in better ways than with him. She wanted to understand the appeal of Thorin, but the only thing she saw was a cocky king of nothing. 

To make things better Gandalf would not be coming along with them. She stayed in silence though, pretending his absence had gone unnoticed. She followed the others last, not before sending a prayer to any God who might hear her. A tear rolled down her cheek. Nobody said heroes always had to be brave and nobody ever should judge the heartache of someone else. God, she missed home, another teardrop fell. Was that how adventures felt? Empty and pointless? She guessed it made sense but was she not supposed to find it exciting? Why was it just hurtful instead?

She took her first step into the wild and hummed a song that made her think of home. That was a nice way to start an adventure, home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey heyyy! So, I must say that Alê's warrior name Kianda is a lake in Angola and also a deity ^^


	3. His mood is the stuff of legend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Alê is done with Thorin and Velaar is done with her emotionally deregulated friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter basically sounds like the movie so... bare with me please :) 
> 
> On the plus side, I chose the POV of Velaar, she understands archaic very decently. So I don't have to write down as much of it.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: There is some very graphic... song? Like, the song talks of something extremely violent. This song is actually a real old song, like most songs I translate. It's a French lullaby (yes, it's sang for children) that talks about violent stuff like murder and I think I might change the rating because of it. I put in bold so you know what I'm talking about.
> 
> Here is a less descriptive summary of the song: There were three little children who were killed by a butcher. 
> 
> Also, there are a few people misgendering Barvo but it's because they don't feel confident enough to come out to no one else other than to Elrond, so their friends go along with it. Also, although they have 'they', the language is still very gendered and gender neutral is very rarely used, so they don't even think about it.

## Alelebela

If you asked Alê, she never thought Thorin sounded nice in The Hobbit, not in the book and most definitely not in the movies. Surprisingly enough, she still had hoped that both were just a grotesque caricature of who king Thorin under the mountain truly was. She was quite disappointed to find out they had not given enough credit to his thunderous moods. To put it shortly, he was a pain, an almost physical pain at that. He hated elves, which made her wish, for the total of about four seconds, that she was anything else. However, that was too small a part of her. 

For the first time, she did not need glasses, she could see everything with perfect ease, her movements were much more gracious and fluid and she just felt incredibly good about it. Her fighting skills were not on point yet, but she was getting there, and she would. She was going to prove her worth, not because she actually cared about anything. She just did not want Dwalin’s efforts to go to waste. She found out that he was actually very nice once you got past that wall that all dwarves seemed to have around them.

“Listen, I would like to say that if he doesn’t stop with his moody moods I’m going to throw myself from this cliff.”

“If you do, I don’t think he will care.” Velaar told her right behind her.

“Is he still actively ignoring you as if only Lumi had a voice?” 

“Yep, pretty much.” 

“I swear to God, this guy just exhales toxic masculinity, can you smell it?”

“I can.” Será joined in grumbling her answer. “I didn’t even want to be here in the first place, this guy should show a little bit of appreciation.”

The three elves often stayed on the edge of camp, not feeling very welcomed. Barvo did not seem to get it, for them it did not make sense. Sure the dwarves were not the nicest but they were not that bad, were they? And they always answered with ‘kind of’. Barvo did not get it good, do not get it wrong, but they did get it better.

Bilbo and Dwalin were the only people from the company who spoke to them. Bilbo liked elves and was curious about their ‘strange’ language. Dwalin had to train them, though Alê was pretty certain that he was starting to get attached to them. He was a tough guy, but even he could not resist her adorableness mixed with her insanity. For some reason people usually liked these two things combined. 

Thorin however was the hardest bone to chew, as they would say during her time. He had just… too much personality. Maybe if he toned it down a 100% less, things would get a whole lot better. 

“Guys, Thorin is asking if we should go over the Misty Mountains.” Lumi came back from her place at the front.

Nobody wanted a fight really, and nobody had hard feelings against Lumi, at least they tried not to. Because they knew they had to stick with each other. Alê just could not help but feel sour about the whole hatred treatment versus actually-being-spoken-to treatment. 

“Did you ask him to go fuck himself?” Será muttered.

“I did not, but I did tell him that you guys are the most knowledgeable people when it came to history and that if he kept treating you like this you would probably make sure they failed because you are angry bitches within reason. At least I think I did, maybe it was more like: Hey, they wise you need them, but you mean to them then help no. But I think he got the gist because he said you can stay closer to the inner part of camp tonight, something about it being dangerous.” Lumi smiled proud of herself.

Okay, maybe Alê needed to scratch a whole lot of what she just thought about Lumi. But you know, sometimes a girl got to be petty to keep her frustration in check.

Barvo then approached them, seeming as frustrated as her.

“I swear I am so fucking mad, Goddamnit, those dwarves are way too stubborn. They got mad because I only packed ‘elven clothes’. This is ridiculous, what did they want? It was the only clothing available, like bitch chill out.” Barvo made a face “I would have preferred not having understood that. I swear to God I don’t know how you guys can take it and not have murdered any of them yet.”

“Again, your idea, Barvo.” Alê muttered and Será agreed.

“Girl, how did you expect me to know?” Barvo pouted.

“Because elven and dwarrow relationships are literally part of our history course.” Alê grumbled.

“Give me a break.” Barvo hissed. “I know it sucks but don’t throw your frustrations on me!” Anger seemed to easily flow through them those days.

Barvo had always been a temperamental git, they were explosive and thanks to adhd they had a hard time keeping their emotions in check. After their dwarvish transformation, it only grew worse. Unfortunately, so did Alê’s, the truth was, being emotional was part of who she was. Two emotionally deregulated people having a screaming contest was not something she wanted. She tried to keep it in but something stronger came over her, a darkness deep within.

“You give me a break! While you are there being buddy-buddy with those dwarves assholes, we are here in the back every damn day risking being eaten by whatever the hell is in here! So would you please stop telling me what to do?! And Lumi, he just asked because he fucking needs us, once our purpose is fulfilled he will throw us to the wolves himself!”

Barvo’s eyes went blank. Lumi’s face dropped. Both Barvo and Lumi were known to have built a huge wall around them, hardly trusting anyone else. Alê had just breached that trust. 

“You know what? You are right. But let me remind you that for now, I am one of these dwarves assholes. And Lumi has been trying to convince Thorin for days now. She finally made some progress, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” Barvo frowned and nodded, they had shielded their feelings away now.

But for some reason she could not stop, her brakes were broken and the crash was imminent.

“It doesn’t. We risked our lives for way too long as it is. If we die, it’s going to be on you, because you decided it was a great idea changing the past.” With that, she walked off.

Only silence followed her and kept her company.

* * *

✵

That day, Alê decided to fuck it, she was going to eat with the dwarves. She made her way and sat beside Dwalin who was sitting close to Balin. Maybe it was Dori, she could never tell the difference. Come to think of it, it could have been Óin as well. She did not really care as long as they were nice. She wanted to tell them apart but she had not had the chance to know them well enough. Dwalin looked at her and raised his brows.

“ _Kianda? Quê cá'axes?_ ” Dwalin respected her, she suspected that Gandalf had told him they were actually humans who had been transformed into elves or whatever.

“I don’t know what you said, but I am kind of hungry so I want to get some food, okay?” 

Alê actually had packed some extra food, not being the fool everybody thought she was. She had asked for some lembas and also had taken some granola bars back at Barvo's granny's house. But right now she needed warm food. Bombour served her. Unfortunately, food did not fill her soul as she hoped it would. She pouted. At least she would not starve, she guessed.

There was a small grunt she looked around her then down, Lumi was sitting close to Bilbo and Barvo was approaching to sit close to her. So it was Barvo.

“Listen, I didn’t mean to throw everything on you, okay?” Barvo smiled nervously and sat down close to her. Dwalin pointed at Barvo.

 _“Did he hurt you?”_ He pretended to speak as Alê read his lips. 

The similarity between modern and archaic was a true blessing.

 _“No.”_ She smiled and shook her head.

“Listen, Alê, I know I was a bit insensitive to your needs.” They looked down.

“A bit?”

“Okay, a lot.” They turned red, “and I'm sorry. But listen, we need to talk it out if we want to survive, Alê.” They frowned.

“Yes, I am sorry for lashing out on you. You know I love you, I didn't mean to hurt you just now.” She took their hand.

“I know.” They smiled. “But you should really apologise to Lumi, though.” Barvo's face turned serious.

“Yes, I guess food alone won’t heal my heart, I need to do the hard job as well.” Alê agreed and stood up after finishing her meal.

“What?” Barvo laughed with their confusion.

“Don’t worry about it, love.”

“Okay, then.”

She went toward Lumi and faked a cough, Lumi looked up.

“What?”

“I am sorry, I went overboard blaming you for Thorin’s action, I really am.”

Lumi looked up and sighed, she opened her mouth…

* * *

✵✵

## Velaar

Velaar totally got both sides. But the thing was: she did not. She did not understand why emotions had been kept so unrestrained lately. They were running wild and strangling their minds like some magic vine that had a will of its own. They did not have time for being emotional, they had to focus because one of the main events of Middle-Earth would happen. That was supposed to be their focus. So when they made a camp she went up to Thorin, screw his stupid moods. There were things that were simply more important than this. Like the fate of the world.

Barvo was brooding on their own. Lumi sat close to Bilbo who seemed to explain something to her as she ate. Alê was sitting far away from neither of them and unsurprisingly close to Dwalin, who really seemed to have found himself attached to her. Then Barvo went up to Alê and then Alê went up to Lumi. Honestly, they had wasted enough time in emotions as it was.

 _"Your majesty king Thorin Oakenshield,"_ That almost sounded like modern Westron to her ears. _"We have things to discuss."_

He looked at her and raised his brows, every person turned their attention to her. Será was following right behind her, they had been discussing their next move for the past hour or so, since everyone else seemed to have forgotten what they actually were supposed to do. 

"Come on, guys, don't be assholes. We need you and so does Middle-Earth." Será turned to them.

They looked up, Alê then nodded and rose, she went up to Barvo and crouched down, offering her hand. Barvo smiled and nodded, taking her hand and standing up, and then gestured to Lumi to come over which she did. They were ready to be strong in the name of their friendship, their survival and their mission Velaar wanted to say she was proud but every breath drawn was a second wasted.

"You guys can apologize and have a meaningful conversation later. We have a plan." Velaar advised.

 _"What do you have to say?"_ Thorin asked, he seemed quite bored.

_"We want to warn you about the Misty Mountains."_

Velaar wanted to say everything she knew, but she knew it was a bad idea. They all had survived this long thanks to luck. If she changed a single thing about the rock giants (which she was not even sure if that was a real thing or just an imaginative way to explain earthquakes and earth's slides) she could be putting everything to jeopardy. She had to carefully filter what she wanted to say.

 _"Important things will happen in the mountains_." 

They had to pass through the mountains if they wanted to go fast, but if they did they would also find the ring, which they knew was essential to everything. The problem was: if the ring had no actual powers then there would be no actual problem if Sauron found it, right? Incorrect, they truly seemed to believe in the power of the ring, Velaar had asked Gandalf and he told her it would lead to war, no matter what. And apparently they were going to unquestionably lose if Sauron had it. Though he seemed quite inquisitive of why they would worry about such a thing. Velaar also wondered if Sauron's depiction was not an exaggeration. She often thought that her ancestors were crazy people that believed in crazy things, but now that she had been transformed into an elf she was not quite so sure anymore.

"We _need to take the path over the mountains."_

_"We were going to do that already, there is nothing new to that."_

_“I know, but may we speak in privacy?”_

Dwalin stood up in disagreement but Thorin gestures for him to sit back down.

" _Whatever you have to say to Thorin you can say it in front of us!"_ Fíli exclaimed.

" _Enough. Let us talk, but if I judge that whatever you say is information that you should disclose to the whole company, you will."_

 _“Alright.”_ She agreed. 

Once they were far enough, Velaar looked at him.

" _Say what you have to say, elfling."_ Thorin demanded.

_“What you don't know is that in the misty mountains there are goblins."_

Thorin inhaled deeply.

_"When? How to avoid them?"_

_"You have to cross them. We need to go there, I just felt like we needed to warn you about it.”_

_“Are you insane?!”_

_“Listen to me, Gandalf trusted us with this, can you believe me for a second?”_

_“Why would we need it? We can walk around it.”_

_“We could, but we both know there is not enough time.”_ Velaar shook her head.

_“I am not putting everyone’s lives in jeopardy.”_

_“You have to, my liege, there is no other way. There is something in there that we need to make it.”_

_“How can I know you are not trying to decieve me?”_

_“If I really wanted that I would not have warned you.”_

_“How can I know I can trust you?”_

_“Gandalf did. And I don’t think you have much choice.”_ Velaar looked around. “ _I am sorry.”_

Thorin rose and nodded, he stayed in silence though. He clearly did not like this whole affair.

_"We will follow what you say, but if anything goes wrong… I will kill all of you myself."_

Oh okay then, Velaar thought.

* * *

✵✵✵

## Alelebela

“ _We go Misty Mountains.”_ Was all Alê could understand and it was enough, mostly because she trusted Velaar to be able to find another course. 

You really can't trust no one these days...

She hoped that part could be avoided, but of course it could not. Why in the world did they insist in following that path? Not changing the past unless extremely necessary would probably lead to the same result. For some reason she could not bring herself to care. Alê was questioning her decision to listen to her companions. 

The day they reached the mountains there was a storm. The crazed winds were singing violently, the sound of rocks sliding was deafening and the rain drummed in a chaotic orchestra, the thunder roared and a lightning wiped the cloudy sky making a ruckus in the night. Maybe nature was rioting, unhappy Bilbo was soon to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Then, there in front of them, the mountains rose and shook then stuttered the long forgotten song of stones, unsure of the rhythm or the lyrics they sang, it had been so long since they last woke. The giants. The giants were real. The company was separated by them as they fought, unaware of the trouble they caused. It was a scary show. Her friends held on to each other. They called Kíli’s name who almost slipped. Then, in the next second Bilbo almost fell. Damn it all. 

He had been lucky Thorin had saved him. Alê knew Thorin was just like Barvo, they did not think before acting, so she had been sure he was going to die in that second and they had failed. Fortunately for them, Thorin could count on Dwalin, who immediately held him. If the movie, Bilbo’s writings, Ori’s reports and her historical research were to be believed, soon there was going to be a fight between Thorin and Bilbo. An ugly one. Thorin looked furious, Alê hid behind Será, which probably looked ridiculous, she was much taller than her. 

“ _Non! Non á per quê dy disputar!_ ” Velaar put herself between them. “Focus, we need to focus. ugh, is that correct? I just need you not to fight...” They looked puzzled. “ _G_ _oblins!”_ Velaar exclaimed. “ _W_ _eapons.”_ She then advised. 

Dealing with the goblins was part of her plan, then. Huh, it was not the choice Alê would have made. If she could, she would have avoided the whole thing. She did not know how this thing would work, but she kept her long sword out of her scabbard for safety, though with her skill level she wondered if the chances of her accidentally stabbing herself were not greater than her chances of being able to defend herself with it. Whose great idea was it to weaponize a Pisces? Her hand trembled with the fierce grip she had on her sword’s handle. That could kill someone and that was the scariest part.

* * *

✵✵✵✵

## Velaar

Velaar had refused to let herself think too much of what could happen if they did not make it. She was a very optimistic person, but it was hard to keep her head held up high when death was looming on all of them. She knew she could not sleep. Thorin though the same way and he was on lookout duty. She decided to sit by him.

He looked surprised but soon he looked away. Everybody knew they did not get along quite well. To think about it often gave Velaar a foul taste on her mouth. She did not dislike Thorin, she had voted for helping him. She secretly admired him, so being treated like trash was very hurtful. The crazy part was that she had been able to talk to him for the first time that day. Before they had reached the Misty Mountain, she had been invisible. 

_"Thank you._ " Thorin hissed, it sounded painful.

 _"What for?"_ Velaar frowned, very confused.

 _"I_ _was about to lash out on him._ " He nodded toward Bilbo.

" _I know you were."_

" _How can you know these things?_ "

Gandalf had told them to keep the future part to themselves, the dwarves could be a bit dangerous, to say the least. 

" _We… we dream and we see…"_ she was looking for answers deep within herself, she thought of the news and Será's phone, " _We see and read the_ _messages the world sends us."_ That was one hell of a way to explain the local news and historical books.

She looked around, everybody was holding tight into their weapon of choice. She brought her long sword closer 

" _I don't understand why they would send an elf to our help."_

 _"I know you don't."_ She then switched to modern, "but it's not as if you were the brightest bulb either."

There was a sound, Velaar looked around.

 _"Make all of them get up!"_ Thorin acted faster than Velaar collected her thoughts. 

The whole company stood up and then the ground gave out. Oh, this was going to be a disaster.

* * *

✵✵✵✵✵

## Alelebela

Alê knew this was going to happen, but nobody had told her how it would be. Scary, it was very scary but she guessed it would be like that. She was being brought down by the goblins, she had shoved some far away from her, since she was much taller she had an advantage that she was not about to let go to waste. The company was not trying to avoid killing, they went straight for it and it gave her chills. She had seen goblins and orcs in her time, they had been part of the marginalized people, she was not into killing people, no matter if they still believed that goblins were a ‘lower race’. She knew the feeling. Therefore, she kept on shoving them which was working marginally. 

Bilbo was nowhere to be seen, ‘he is probably in Gollum’s cave’ she thought. It made her want to pray even more, pray that he was doing fine. Pray that everything went according to plan.

'Pray that hell or heaven lets you in.' She heard Lumi's voice in her mind, she shook her head, that was not the time to think of musical references.

Suddenly something went up on her and She looked around some more, there was also a dwarf missing. Her eyes widened, she frantically looked around, trying to find out which one. Then Bofur stood up from the ground. So, he had fallen? Maybe she was worrying too much.

Out of nowhere she fell on the ground, maybe she should have been more focused on the fight. A goblin was on top of her brandishing his blade to strike her in one single deadly blow. She was ready for the pain, she was ready to fail, she expected that much. Alê may had been against the dwarves, she still had hoped they would succeed. It was all their fault if they did not get out of there alive. 

She felt something wet dripping on her cheeks, she opened her eyes and there was blood sputtering out of the goblin’s mouth, he had a whole in his chest. He had a… No, she needed to focus now. She was going to leave that place with five golden stars. She pushed the body and there was a hand being offered for her to take. She did and soon she was already sitting up and next thing she knew she was standing.

 _“Vousso ferro non é per embelexar.”_ Dwalin told her.

She stood there, looking at him in shock. He had just killed someone. Maybe it was all that thinking and standing that got them captured but one would never be able to tell. 

They were brought into the goblin town, it was a huge concave after another, filled with goblins that sang songs that sounded a bit like war tunes. They did not have nice tuning but they made up for it with the passion they sang with. Alê shrugged she was not about to judge a culture she did not get.

“They are singing about eating us.” Velaar confided. “That isn’t very nice.”

“No, it isn’t.” Alê agreed.

She felt chills all over her body. Although torches burned all over town and the smell of smoke was everywhere, the light in goblin town was dim. The singing was making her increasingly nervous. Maybe they should have avoided that part. She was being pushed down, beside her was Velaar and right in front of her, Fíli and Kíli were being brought along.

“ _Listen_ , nus temos que sayr dy cá depressa.” Fíli muttered.

“I listened but I have no idea what happened later.” Alê muttered.

“He said we need to find a way out fast.”

“Tell me about it.”

They found their way in front of a huge goblin, Alê had never seen such a big goblin before.

He was talking to Thorin, Alê did not get everything but:

"Rey _sob a montanya?! Sen montanya dy nada es Rey. Al fin, tu non es ninén_ _._ _Moiro dy querer cosa-lo al vousso inimigo que te vi assin legar en casa mya."_

Alê gasped, she knew what he had said, she remembered from years of studying History of Middle-Earth and Ager. That was not good. Bolg would be waiting for them once they were out. Damn. 

“Hey, big bad goblin that smells of fart!” Alê needed to get his attention.

“ _Que?!_ ” He approached his face to hers, the smell got stronger along with the feeling of uneasiness, “ _Que ũ fí dy Ilúvatar está'axer cá entre anons?”_ He looked around noticing all the others. “ _Per que tens tã grán número dy elfos en ta companhya?”_

 _“Perque tên bon coraçon, los anons! Suivimo-los perque lo merecen.”_ Velaar exclaimed.

A few dwarves roared in agreement before being punched by a goblin. Alê screamed as well, she had no idea what had been said but she trusted Velaar. Velaar smiled and held Alê’s hand. Alê looked up and smiled back, if that made Velaar smile maybe it was the right thing to do.

 _“Bá, preparen-nos para seren luogo servidos. Barriga mya está a roncar iá.”_ The goblin pointed at them and a roar of protest was heard all across the hall.

“ _Esperai! Non saeis vus que estais en grán presença dy célebres cantantes?”_ Velaar exclaimed.

Alê immediately let go of her hand, she was clearly out of her mind, what did singing had anything to do with anything?

“Trust me on this one, I told Lumi Será’s plan before putting it in action, it may actually work. She has already warned some of them." Velaar whispered.

Alê hesitantly nodded.

“ _A mí, it matters little to me.”_ The Great goblin shrugged.

“Great, your plan is useless.” Barvo commented out loud from the back. “Sorry, I was just thinking loudly.”

Alê rolled her eyes, honestly this was ridiculous. 

“ _Digo-vus que a cantoria d’estes cantantes vus impressionará. (I’m telling you that the singing of… will impress)”_

Alê was understanding her plan and she did not like it.

“ _Who?_ ”

 _“Ele_ ” She pointed to Barvo. “I elas” then to Lumi and Será.

Poor people. Alê did not like that, sending them to the slaughterhouse sounded very close to what was happening in that moment.

The goblin ‘hm-ed’ and nodded, the goblins went and took Barvo, Lumi and Será out of the mass of dwarves and pulled them violently. The three of them were groaning in discontent with the way they were being treated.

 _"Is this a child? I love the taste of them.”_ He asked when he saw Lumi

It was then that Alê wished she did not understand Westron at all. May it be modern or archaic.

“ _Agora canten per me!”_

 _“Ah! Aún non puoden cantar si non prometrer-nus que si vus agradarmos_ _soltareis-nus.”_ Velaar sounded like she was gambling.

Alê shivered, she never liked gambling and her dislike only grew with the notion that their lives was what was at stake. No matter, whatever she said made the goblin furious and he grabbed Barvo by their long pink braids. They screamed in agony, trying to make the pain stop. The Goblin cackled at the face of hurt Barvo made. They all started to protest, demanding that the goblin king release Barvo effective and immediately.

_"Cranho que non puodo'axer nada per cumprir este'acordo vousso. Música non m’interessa como ũa bona torturaxinya. Voussas bradalhadas son verdadeira música per ouvidos myos.”_

_“Non volíeis-vus ohir cançons?”_ Velaar sounded desperate, trying to grasp at anything she could. 

“ _Disse-te, as bradalhadas voussas bastan-me iá.”_

Alê could only hope it would. Barvo kept screaming in pain until the loud laugher of the goblin was all everyone could hear. 

“Give me back my guitar and I’ll sing.” Barvo seemed to fight pain.

" _Hm? Que está a cosar esso gaiato?_ _What is a guitar?"_

Barvo had gritted their teeth and made a face of anger. They were refusing to scream.

The goblin did not like that. “ _Disse-te iá! Cante per me!”_ He shook Barvo.

“I don’t know what you just said, but you, sir, are very rude.” Barvo replied.

That was clearly not the time to be witty or sarcastic. Why was it always Barvo’s mouth that went unrestrained?

“ _Rude?”_ He approached Barvo's face and Alê prayed that they did not faint from the smell.

It was the same word, of course it was. Of course they would be that lucky.

“I can’t sing for you if I don’t have my guitar.” Barvo spoke slowly in neutral, “So listen to my friend over there and please let me go.” They looked at Lumi, the goblin followed their stare, Alê just wondered if it was a good idea at all. 

“Now, release them. I know you want Thorin’s head, but think about it, Azog can cut it all on his own. You can wait till he comes, if you wait then you will be able to enjoy our singing, let us go, eat one or two dwarves and have the head of the king.” Será jumped right in and Velaar translated it.

All the dwarves roared at that ‘Traitors!’ they yelled.

The goblin seemed to be thinking it through, genuinely understanding neutral, it seemed. He then nodded and released Barvo. he said something and Lumi agreed.

“He told us not to try anything funny.”

“I will need my guitar to play, though.”

The goblin gave a grunt and said something.

“I have no idea how to answer this.” Barvo answered.

He gave them what they gestured for, and they opened the guitar case. Barvo took out their guitar. Alê knew things were not going to end well. Until she heard the first strum. Alê knew that song and how fitting it was. Oh, how had she not thought of that before?

> **“** **_There were three little children_ **
> 
> **_Out to glean in the fields_ **
> 
> **_And so they went and so they came_ **
> 
> **_So many times that all looked the same_ **
> 
> **_As soon as they lost their way_ **
> 
> **_They became the butcher’s prey_ **
> 
> **_There were three little children_ **
> 
> **_Out to glean in the fields_ **
> 
> **_They did not know and went his way_ **
> 
> **_The one who killed before he prayed_ **
> 
> **_He then cut them in slices_ **
> 
> **_Then let them salt like swines_ **
> 
> **_There were three little children_ **
> 
> **_Out to glean in the fields.”_ **
> 
> **-** La légende de Saint Nicolas

The song soothed the goblins as they heard the scariest lullaby Alê knew. 

* * *

✵✵✵✵✵✵

## Barvo

I stopped singing with Lumi and Será in that very sad note because I knew that was the part where the goblins would be interested. I looked behind me and all the company had done nothing, they looked sickly at us and quite judgy too. Gee, a person cannot sing a song about a butcher who killed children without getting the side-eye these days. I expected they would use the diversion we had created, but of course we had to shock them with that song. The goblins seemed to adore it though, they went silent then they all started cheering. I guess we would do well as pop stars in Goblin town. The company could judge all they wanted. I knew we had chosen our song well. It was then that I spotted a dark figure wearing a pointy hat. Oh my, it was true, Gandalf would bust us out of there. We just had to stall for time. So that was Será’s plan.

“ _Another! Another!”_ The goblin king demanded.

I looked meaningfully at the company. They shrugged and then I saw that in Fíli’s hand there was a small knife, well hidden but still noticeable from where I stood. So they did do something with their time. I smiled. Maybe they all had seen the pointed hat and were waiting for the opportunity. I just had to keep going. I felt something cold being put in my back pocket. I turned around, slightly scared, it was Fíli putting a knife in it. I could cut my bum if I did not take it off while we were running.

“I can’t sing you another song.” I looked at Velaar on my left, begging her to translate what I said. She did. “We made a deal, you let us go.”

The goblin made a face and shook his head. “ _My rules.”_

“Then no song for you.” I felt like I was talking to a child.

“ _Wait! I se eu te der ta borsa?”_

“He wants to know if you will sing if he gives you your bag back.”

“If I sing you another song, you release us. And yes, I want my bag.”

Goblins gave me back my bag and I smirked. You shall be the bard hidden deep within you, I thought.

“ _Long ago, a girl live happy. One day, her mother go death and his father marry again. Her step-mother is evil.”_ Okay, so my vocabulary was not that developed, but damn it I had dreams and nobody was going to crush them.

“ _Where is the music?”_ The goblin growled and spat _._

 _“She hurt the girl very, very, making her go death. The step-mother bury the girl under a tree. One day, her father’s gardener go close to the tree, he wish to cut tree because the new mom order. But, when he… was?_ right, _was ready to cut the tree…”_

Suddenly the goblins seemed to have lost their minds, I mean, they were not in their right mind in the first place, but now they seemed to be getting angry at me.

“ _KILL THEM! THIS IS NO SONG!”_

Okay, I guess I was not that great of a bard. I should probably stick to being a pop star then. 

Out of nowhere a goblin jumped on me, I still had my guitar, so I hit him with it. Thank the heavens above, my guitar was still in one piece. The whole company had their weapons brandished while I held my guitar menacingly, we assembled and tried to make a circle to fight somewhat organizedly, unfortunately the goblins were coming in mass and it was too hard to keep up. Finally, a second goblin tried to come at me directly, I could almost see everything in slow motion, like in a dream. 

That was when a wave of light and energy hit us, lapping at any dark corner of goblin town. Gandalf. Nice job, though it would have been better if I was not blinded by all the light he produced as a collateral damage.

“ _Fight!”_ Gandalf screamed. “ _Fight!”_

“Bitch, that was literally what we were doing before you came here.” I grumbled as I put my guitar surprisingly fast inside my bag slash case. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made till here?! Bravooooo!!! Anyway, as always, feel free to send me a message and comment, tell me what you liked or what you disliked. You know the gist.
> 
> Oh I had forgotten I put in an expression from their time "Hardest bone to chew" means someone really tough that you find very difficult to get along with.


	4. When you think it's the end of the road, there you are at the beginning again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Major character death... I don't want to spoil too much, but yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is what changes everything so I'm so excited for it! Also, I often feel like the characters in this trope are underdeveloped when it comes to talking about their past before they got sucked in the past. So there is a bit of their lives before shit hit the fan.
> 
> Trigger warning: death, blood and violence.

## Velaar

Dwalin threw a knife at Velaar, she was not sure if he was trying to kill her or keep her alive. No matter, it helped her in that moment. She looked straight ahead and went face to face with a goblin, she valued life way too much to think too much over it and she stabbed the creature that wailed and screeched loudly, she did not know it was this loud, death sounded scary and horrifying, she grabbed her knife back and her longsword, she had no time to think over it in that moment, she had to run. 

It was easy to keep her mind out of the killing as she was making her way out of the cave. Just keep your head straight was her only thought. When they left, she was breathing heavily. Sunlight was shining and she guessed it meant they had spent at least a whole day underground and she shivered. Underground was not something she particularly liked. 

“Where is Bilbo?” 

If Velaar could have skipped through this whole part in history, she would. Thorin complains, Bilbo appears and Thorin starts respecting him at least a bit , Gandalf is suspicious and Bilbo obviously has the ring that is the source of so much war and ire. She shivered again, although she did not like the sight of the thing that would cause so many deaths, she could not help but feel hopelessly drawn to the small piece of jewelry. What a creepy thing. There must be a logical explanation that did not involve magic. That was a problem for future Velaar though. They heard a scream and a howl, and there, half a mile ahead was a group of wargs.

“Out of the frying pan.”

“And into the fire.”

Well, that was very accurate to the situation. If Velaar could, she would have backed away and wished to never hear it again. In the movies it sounded exciting like a question mark, something that meant so little on its own yet meant so much, it was an ellipsis in a sentence, what would happen next? When it was said in real life it was much less fun.

I want to live, was the only thought she held on to as she ran through the forest and climbed up a tree. She had never run as fast as she did once she had realized what was really at stake there. Their life, this was no dream. Orcs were not as friendly as the ones she knew and befriended in college and at school. She missed being peaceful. She missed not having to kill no one, but what could she do now? Nothing, this was the whole point. The reason why she was running. She just needed to live a little more and things would be okay. 

Alê fell from the tree, or rather was pulled down by one of the wargs that had bitten her legs. That was it.

“NO!” She jumped out of the tree and brandished her longsword. 

She jumped on the warg and stabbed its head with a whole lot of strength. She stood up, taking her sword fast and hitting an orc and then another warg. She was hitting so many of them, trying not to kill any but she was not sure she was succeeding. It was hard to tell with so much blood. She could hear Dwalin screaming something. But she knew their life was worthless to Thorin and no one would come to Alê’s rescue. She was lying beside Velaar, having a hard time to stand, pain was written in deep lines on her face. Velaar tried to hold her but holding a sword and saving a friend while fighting was too tiring, she felt her will dissipate. What was that whole thing about elves being able to sleep while they walked? She needed to learn that as soon as possible. 

Alê was screaming in pain but once Velaar started half-walking half-supporting her, she bit her cheek and limped. Both of them were in a too vulnerable position.

A warg charged their way but he fell with an arrow on its legs, Velaar turned around and Será was fiercely aiming anything that moved and soon settled in a target, she released another arrow that hit an orc’s eye. It gave Velaar hope, enough of it that she let go of Alê who assured her she could stand and started fighting, fueled by the thought that soon things would be over. One way or another. 

Alê drew her bow and released one or two arrows, hitting a massive warg. After a few minutes all five had reunited and were holding a protective stance. The problem with non-lethal attacks is that at some point your enemy might recover enough to fight you back. Once the orcs she had knocked out started charging again, Velaar understood that all they had done was stall for time and that time was over.

“So, is this how the end looks like? At least we will be going down together!” Barvo commented.

“No offense, hon, but just try and focus on living another day, will you?” Lumi spat back.

“I guess I can do that.” 

They were holding the wargs from getting too close to the company, maybe that would save them. Maybe Thorin would do right in the name of their death, she could only hope. Some wargs were able to pass by them and started reaching for the trees where the dwarves were. Hopefully they had stalled enough that the eagles (whatever they really were) had already heard them. 

She let down her sword, her arm hurt from exhaustion. She had never stayed up so many hours and fought for so long (or fought with swords at all, in all honesty). 

She felt Alê’s hand on hers ‘Don’t give up, not yet. You have so much to live for, you will see.’ Alê had the habit of constantly repeating this to Velaar like some sort of mantra, so she instantly got the message. She was not wrong then and she was not wrong in that moment either. The encouragement worked like an energy drink and her amrs regained some of their strength, she would fight as long as she could stand. Which would probably not be for much longer but she had to at least try.

A screeching made the orcs hesitate for a second, giving an advantage of seconds for Velaar, one she took immediately. She was no dum-dum and soon the orc was dead at her feet. She looked around and she thanked the whole Deus ex machina cliche because there in front of her was an army of eagles. So they were real too, Velaar noted. She could also just be hallucinating because of sleep-deprivation but it did not matter, she was glad whatever came was there. She was going to take whatever blessings she could.

She let her body go limp and fall when an eagle picked Alê’s body. Alê was safe, or so she hoped, it was all that mattered to Velaar. Next thing she knew she was riding on the back of an eagle. Maybe she could rest for a bit. 

* * *

✵

Whatever they tell you about the ‘first kill’, it pales in comparison to the real thing. Nothing she had read had prepared her for the numbness. It could not be real, it did not feel real, but Velaar knew better than that. It still felt like a dream, a nightmare where the faces of who she hurt kept flashing back in her mind even as she was awake. However, she was too conscious of reality, and the disconnection between what she felt to be true and what she knew to be true made her feel like taking a shower and curling up in her bed.

Once she woke up and realised she was on the Carrok she tried to focus on that. In her time, the Carrok were just a few rocks piled up and an important archeological site not allowed for visitors. Of course she knew they had been an impressive sight once upon a time. But now that she was there, she felt disappointed at the size of it. First, it was much smaller than in the movies, second, it was already in ruins. It was obviously less deteriorated than in her time but it still was only a ruin. Well, she did ride on a giant eagle so she could take the undermining of one of her expectations. After all, her experiences had surpassed most of them. 

Alê… Suddenly the world came back in focus and she could see everyone looking at her.

“Took you some time, lassie.” Balin smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

Velaar hissed at her sore muscles. Elves did not feel soreness her ass. Now she knew better than to listen to the lord of the rings. Maybe she was a different type of elf. Maybe only high elves lived sore-muscles free. 

“You! _Saeis qu’o qu’ixeste fue tolice do puy haut calon!”_ Dwalin came screaming and speaking too fast. 

Something about doing something dumb, honestly, Velaar could not completely disagree with it. However there were more pressing matters, she needed to find Alê.

“Gandalf is taking care of her, don’t worry.” Lumi told her once she asked her.

As it turned out, she did have to worry when a loud scream pierced through her ears, it was her friend. It was Alê. The eagles, who were still there, shrieked and moved stiffly, looking uncomfortable with the noises of pain the ef was making. Velaar did not wait and followed the sound of the cries and soon she saw Gandalf who was whispering to Alê whose cries subsided to whimpers.

“There is not _muy que puoss’axer per_ relieve some of her pain.” Gandalf turned to her.

Velaar growled and pushed the old man away from Alê. Lumi hissed and the rest of her friends reacted accordingly, but she did not pay them any mind. 

“Stop!” She snarled furiously, looking like a mad dog ready to bite. “Stay away!” she barked as a second warning, “Stay away!” she hugged Alê whose eyes were wide with fear, she knew she was dying.

“Vel…” A voice called, but she was too focused cradling her friend.

She then proceeded to cry, no one ever saw her crying. Why was she crying? Oh, she felt something warm soak her shirt and her pants, it was red. Alê was there, in her arms, she was also painted in red. Why were them red? Had they been playing with the paint in art’s class again? How silly of them, it was going to take hours to wipe it out of their skin. She was not even sure she liked the colour, it reminded her too much of pain. But there was no pain, right? It was all fine, everyone was safe. Lumi, Será (since when did Será study with them?) and Barvo called, they probably were coming to remind them of their next hangout, even though Barvo is the one who always forgets it. They sounded upset, maybe the hangout was today and they were scared both Alê and Velaar were going to miss it because of all the red. Well, they should know Velaar never missed any hangout, that was Alê’s job. She was probably going to bail, there was just too much red to wipe out.

* * *

✵✵

## Barvo

I tried my best at keeping a light mood in the camp we had built but with Alê gone, there was not much I could do. I always shared laughs with her and suddenly it seemed pointless. We had to hold Velaar to take the body, she had a nasty grip. The world was blurred and senseless. There was a fire, but it looked very dull, the eagles had brought some food and the company tried making us eat but our appetite was gone. The dwarves were finally letting Será and Velaar stay in the camp, but they earned Thorin’s respect for too high a price and there was no point in celebrating the way they once might had. 

We all went to sleep, or tried to. I never had an easy time falling asleep and at that point I knew it would be pointless. I walked by Thorin, who this time did not have a single scratch on him. They could say whatever they wanted about our ‘crazy’ reaction of jumping into danger to save one of our own, but they could shut up about us being useless. Sure, we were not the best, but we were fine. 

I heard some soft sobs and went to them. It was Velaar, she was hugging her legs.

“Hey” I said softly, scared to startle her, but it was no use and she flinched anyway.

“H-hey.” 

“Can I sit with you?” 

“Sure.” She gestured and then proceeded to wipe her tears. “Sorry…”

“Don’t worry. I had never seen you crying before.”

“I know, I usually don't. You know I’m a positive thinking person.”

“Are you okay? You didn’t seem too well.”

She stared at the horizon, the sky looked so dark that the stars seemed to barely pierce it through. She was not very eager to answer.

“She would have loved tonight.” I commented, changing the subject.

“What?”

“She loved it when the day was so bright and so hot you could walk around naked, but she also loved the beauty of the darkest nights. I mean, I have never seen the sky so dark, yet everything is calm and it feels safe.”

“She is not safe.” Her eyes started gleaming again.

She had probably forgotten I could see well in the dark, because her tears kept silently rolling down her cheeks. Maybe she thought that if she made no sound I would not notice. I paid no mind to it, if she wanted it to be her secret, then so be it.

“Isn’t she? We will have her memory forever with us. She’s made her mark in our hearts too, and it’s like a stamp, you see what I mean? It gets stuck and is very hard to take off, but she was the one to put it there, it’s a small piece of who she was, granted, but it’s already so much.” I felt almost disgusted of having made the most cliche speech for Alê’s death, she deserved so much better. Also, it was not just that, there was something more I wanted to tell her. “And if I’m being honest with you, but please don't make fun of me-What I mean to say is, you know I don’t believe in gods, you know I don’t believe in much of anything supernatural either. I mean, I always wished they were real, sure, but I never trully believed in it. But we saw so many things here, and please don’t go thinking I lost my mind, but I feel like she is here with us. I feel her presence.” 

Velaar smiled despite everything. 

“Yeah. I get it.” She then hugged my shoulders and laid her head on top of mine.

“I love you.” I told her. 

I had not had the chance to tell Alê I loved her one last time. I preferred not to let that chance slip with Velaar, one of my best friends.

“I love you too and thank you.” Velaar started to cry again.

I then realised she knew I could see her cry, she just did not care. I took a deep breath, why was I holding on so tight to not crying? I had to be strong for my family and crying for some reason made me feel weak. But it was mostly because deep down I felt she was going to appear and say it was all a stupid prank and her death was not on me for agreeing to help the company. She had to, because life without her was so dull.

“Remember when we used to hangout in bars where people only spoke neutral because we wanted to practice but our neutral was so bad? We would only speak in _Hibero_ , remember? God, how I miss those days…” Velaar started.

“Okay, but remember how Alê’s _Hibero_ sucked and she had such a hard time learning it? She went along with us even though she had trouble with local.” I laughed.

Alê was always the one trying to cross barriers between people, when you are an immigrant it comes in handy. I never thought too hard about it, but maybe she was stronger than we thought. I sure hated it when I came to _Hibera_ and my _Hibero_ was not good enough to understand the jokes and the bantering. 

“I mean, yeah. It’s a shame Lumi can’t speak in _Polistan_.”

“I miss home.” I muttered.

“Which one?” She laughed.

“You tell me.”

“Both.” She sighed. “When was the last time you went to _Polist_?”

Our homeland. This was safe territory. Although not as safe as one might think.

“Last time I went there we were on the brink of a civil war.” 

“Six years ago, then?”

“Yeah, and you?” 

“I think it was last year.”

“How was it?” I did hear a few things from the news but that was it.

“A lot of things shut down.”

“Like what?” 

“Like that ice cream parlor you loved.”

"The one with the huge popsicles? Alê told you about it?"

"Yeah."

It was a logical conclusion, you see, Velaar and I had never met in Polist, so I could only guess that Alê must had shown it to her. If it was any other day, I would have felt bothered by that information, but I did not, because I could not care less for an ice cream parlor when Alê was gone. But it was better than rubbing the salt on the wound so we kept talking about food and _Polist_. But my mind kept going back to how I would never see her rivers ever again and how Alê had died so far from home. If we ever left that place, I made the promise I would take Será with me and we would go home one last time, for Alê. 

* * *

✵✵✵

## Velaar

* * *

_"I'm sorry." Alê held on tighter to the coat that hung over her shoulders._

_They were still on the Carrock, where they decided to spend the night._

_"It's okay, though I don't see why you'd have to apologise anyway." Velaar answered without hesitation as she sat beside Alê and patted her shoulder._

_"Thank you." She looked up._

_"Don't thank me, I should've seen it coming. I'm so sorry for choosing and voting for this, it's all my fault."_

_Alê turned around and took her hand. "Stop it, little star. You know it was my choice to follow you guys. If I had decided to stay in Rivendell, I would've."_

_Velaar did not believe it at all. She knew that neither did Alê, but now was not the time or place to discuss it._

_"I know, but still." She pouted._

_Alê smiled and let go of her hand._

_"Does it hurt?" Velaar gestured at her leg._

_"Hell yeah." Alê chuckled. "But according to Gandalf and Óin, I'll live, at least from what I understood."_

_"I saw Dwalin was talking to you."_

_"Talking? Is that what we are calling it now? He was yelling. I don't know what he was saying, he was talking too fast. But I'll take a wild guess and say it was something to do with me throwing myself recklessly in danger."_

_"Yeah okay. Sounds about the same thing he told me earlier. Though I don’t understand why he was mad at you, you didn’t throw yourself in danger pers-se, it was more like danger threw itself at you.”_

_"Well, maybe you didn’t see what happened, but I froze, like I always do when I’m scared.” She scoffed self-deprecatingly._

_“If it's of any consolation, Thorin seems to be actually respecting us now."_

_“Awe, will you look at that? And it only took one of us dying."_

_"Stop." She warned but she could not help smiling when Alê stared at her unimpressed. "I guess he is rather insufferable, isn't he?._

_"No, you don't say?" Alê said with a hand over her mouth._

_They both laughed._

_"And another thing: you guess? Sorry, but at this point you don't have to guess, facts are pretty obviously staring down at your soul. He is insufferable." Alê smiled as their laughter quieted down._

_"I know."_

_"Good."_

* * *

Velaar woke up from her dream sweating, when had she fallen asleep? She expected to find Barvo sleeping by her side, but she did not find them near her. She looked around and her eyes widened when she saw where she was laying. It was still dark but dawn had already started colouring the landscape and her surroundings. She noticed a small campfire and they were close to a forest but there were no dwarves. But she could count three sleeping bags without counting hers. 

She did not recall falling asleep in a sleeping bag. She sat up and looked around. They were not in the Carrock anymore, but again, maybe they did walk out of it when she was still trying to understand what happened to Alê. 

She shook the closest sleeping bag with some strengh. Será came out of it as she grumbled and sat up, her hair was all over the place. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, she looked exhausted, it seemed like no one had slept well that night.

"Where are we, Será?" She whispered, not trying to wake anybody else.

"Hm? I don't know..." She yawned again. 

She took her phone, probably to look at the time, though Velaar was not sure it actually still worked as a clock. According to Será, it helped her count the days and not lose her mind. Her eyes widened when they landed on the screen.

"Hm... we are on the same day when we came here..." She sounded stressed out. "It's probably a bug." 

She kept scrolling down her phone trying to find something that proved it was just a malfunction. Her expression went from distressed to extremely worried.

“What the hell…?”

She showed her phone to Velaar who took it and read the words in the News paper she had charged before they left. It read: 'There might had been more than just the company to have helped Thorin Oakenshield, indeed researchers found lost pages of the red book that mentions...' She did not need to read the rest.

They had changed the past... but they were not back in the ruins although it did look like the place where it all started. 

What the hell indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He he he, don't worry, the next chapter explains everything. Kind of.


	5. Dying one too many times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of death going on here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, how are you all doing? This chapter is kind of... different, it's a lot more crack so don't take any of the stuff I write seriously. By the way, I chose to follow mostly the route of the movie, so yeah...

## Lumimel

Lumi cried herself to sleep, she knew death was not pretty, but death like this was just devastating. Alê had so much to live for. It was her fault, she had voted to help the dwarves, how naive she had been to think that a bunch of untrained young adults could have helped in any way? She was a stupid, stupid, person, what a bitch. Killing her own friend like this, no wonder Barvo had not addressed a single word to her. They did vote the same, but honestly, they did not think a lot before doing stuff, they were way too impulsive. She should had been the voice of reason, instead of following a childish wish to belong somewhere.

Selfish bitch, you are suffering and you know you deserve it, she thought as she sniffled. But Alê did not deserve to die for her to learn her lesson.

* * *

Lumi woke up with a howling. What was that? She looked around, she stood up and she was taller. She was noticeably taller. Alex was nowhere to be found, they were wearing their modern clothes, the one they wore their first night. Were they home? She felt such relief that she chuckled despite herself.

What a weird dream… Then there was the sound of a howl a second time. That must had been what had triggered it. Damn, her imagination was wild. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and tried to set her hair down a bit with her hands to no use.

Both Velaar and Será were staring at her.

“Oh, you guys are already up? What time is it?”

She looked at her phone.

“Oh, it’s early, but I think we said we had things to do, remember?”

She turned to her side and shook the sleeping bag beside her.

“Alê! Come on, we have things to do! Early birds catch the worms and all of that stuff!”

That was when Alê jumped up, head butting Lumi, still in her sleeping bag with a muffled scream and almost falling face first with the ground. They both held their hands to their forehead.

“Sorry, I thought you were an orc. But like, an orc from the past, you know what I mean.” 

“Wait, you also had a weird dream?”

“Yeah, I dreamt about going back in time…”

“Guys…” Será stood up. “Before you guys ask. Yes, I was listening in, sorry, my bad. But I don’t think we were dreaming... look at the ruins! They are still not here! And one more thing, the news changed! We need to find Barvo.”

This seemed to wake something deep inside Alêas as she frantically tried to open her sleeping bag.

“My leg! My leg!” She finally succeeded with trembling fingers, it seemed she was looking for something and when she was able to free herself from the bag, she saw what she was looking for and collapsed on the ground crying.

Then it hit her. That was why both Velaar and Será had freeze at the sight of Alê.

“Tell me I’m wrong, but what you are saying is we really just lived through that whole thing for real?”

Será nodded.

Lumi did not need to know more, she jumped on Alê and hugged her tightly. After a few seconds, Alê hugged her back, then, two other pairs of hands hugged them too.

“I swear I have never been so happy to see your gorgeous face as I am now!” She exclaimed.

“Wait, we are back?! Then that means we have to get going! There are wargs coming our way!” Alê took her things and started packing.

“No need, I’m here… You guys are smaller!” Barvo came back walking with their backpack then they froze when they saw Alê.

“Sis, I swear to God that if that was a fucking prank I’m killing you. Wait, if it isn’t a prank then that means I am dead?!” They looked at their own hands. “It doesn’t look as ghostly as I would have thought… And I am back to my size!" They made a happy dance. "I mean, not that I ever was in a different size, it's just I had a weird dream...” They quickly amended.

“No time to explain but you are probably going to shrink gradually again, don’t worry.” Será stated and destroyed the campfire as well as she could.

“Which way did we go last time?” Alê asked.

“Wait, that was real and we are back?!” Barvo made a displeased sound. “One adventure like that is enough for a lifetime, goddamnit”

“Yeah, well, it seems like we don’t have any other choice.” Lumi grumbled, “Let’s go this way!” She pointed.

They had not walked more than a mile when all of the sudden, Lumi spotted Radagast’s huge sled.

It is not stopping! It is not stopping! Lumi thought as the sled came closer and closer to them.

Oh shit. The sled was now perfectly visible and it… it ran over them.

That was why people should not do drugs and drive!

* * *

This time, Lumi woke up with a loud gasp.

“What in the world?!” They were in the same place they were before. 

They stood up and Barvo came with their backpack packed. 

“I have so many questions. But the most important one: every time we die, every time any of us dies.. do we..? And when it comes to the Durins? If they die do we get back here?” Barvo wondered out loud.

“What you are saying is…” Velaar asked for clarification. 

“Everytime we die we come back here!” Lumi answered.

“Yes! But that is not my point.” Barvo tried answering.

“Oh God. But what do the Durins have anything to do with it?” Alê commented.

“My point is, if we die before saving the Durins, then we will have failed. I think this is the universe telling us we need to save the day.” Barvo answered...

“I hate the universe.” Será complained. “Let’s go then.”

They destroyed the campfire and walked away in a slightly different direction. They saw Radagast and followed him, he was screaming the same thing over and over. Now at least they all knew what was being said.

* * *

✵

## Alelebela

Alê had known it was a bad idea to explain everything they knew to the dwarves and everyone else. The problem maybe relied on the fact that they had not mentioned they were from the future, they just dumped every information they had from history books. They basically presented a historical essay explaining everything from the third age to the fading of other races in Middle-Earth. They did not like it, not one bit.

“Witches! Bringer of bad luck!”

At least her time in the past had given her good enough knowledge to understand the basics of archaic. After listening to that she would have preferred to go back to not knowing anything. 

Then, they got killed. Apparently the few time they lived through the entirety of the retaking of Erebor had been out of sheer luck. Great.

* * *

Alê woke up yet again in that place and she swore that if anything happened again she would have a fit.

They walked and did everything as the first time, except they decided they needed to avoid goblin town. This time they just went back to the tunnels, picked up the ring with a Kleenex then gave it to Bilbo. 

Maybe this one time things would work out, Alê dared hope. Well, they did not. Turns out they needed to pass through goblin town so the great goblin could warn Azog so they would go to Beorn, but instead they went directly to Mirkwood and starved. 

* * *

✵✵

## Barvo

I swear I did not see it coming, but I should have. We stayed and decided that the best take we could have on our situation was simple: we needed to draw on a number of plans. 

That was when the howls started getting really close, then all of the girls ran away but I froze there and stayed. 

What on Ager was going on? Then, a huge warg charged on me and all I could see was teeth. Nice way to go.

* * *

I woke up with the sound of Alê screaming at me. 

"This is hell! You listen to me, this is the literal equivalent of being in a video game that doesn't allow you to save levels!" She screamed then kicked a stone.

I decided to ignore that.

"Well, that happened. How long did it take for you guys to come back?" 

No, I was not going to address the fact that I had just been eaten. 

"A day, we thought that you were actually lost to us…" Será answered, "When we didn't come back immediately, I mean. We thought that when one person died alone then we had to redo the whole thing and then you'd be dead for real…" she frowned "I mean, the same thing happened to Alê but it lasted, what? Three hours top. We've been discussing and we don't even know if we have a limited amount of lives... what if that life was you last?"

"Good thing that wasn't the case!" I stretched. 

“So... how did it feel?” Será curiously asked.

"Were you able to smell its breath?" Velaar asked.

"Yeah, I am not answering these questions, let's go." 

Being eaten had been an eye-opener, I did not like the smell of the breath of wargs. Quite sensible thought, if you asked me. 

* * *

✵✵✵

## Lumimel

Lumi was ready for anything, but being the one to fall in the pit instead of Bilbo was not one of them. She felt her heart racing and she knew that luck was not on her side this time. Was it karma getting back at her for thinking that Thorin, (son of Thráin II, son of Thror, son of Dáin I, son of Náin II, one of the descendants of the line of Durin) king under the mountain, was an asshole? Then damn Mahal. Damn it all, why was she helping anyway? Oh right, the loop. She was stuck in a fucking loop. 

She heard a loud noise, she looked around, she noticed two luminous orbs, what in the world? The thing rushed in her direction. Oh, may Eru guide her. She should probably run, but instead she froze and the thing jumped on her.

A sharp pain on her head made everything fade. Damn it, why did she not run?

* * *

✵✵✵✵

## Alelebela

Once they made their way out for the fiftieth time, they sent Alê to look for Lumi. She was walking fast because she knew Gollum was lurking there, they needed to get Lumi then the ring. It was then that she saw the creature ready to eat her corpse.

“Oh, come on! Why?! Now we have to go back, damn it!” Alê stomped her feet on the ground and made her way out along with the others.

 _“Have you found her?_ ” Bilbo asked worriedly. _“Is she well?”_

“Yeah, she is dead.” Alê grumbled grumpily and all the time-travellers groaned loudly ‘Not again! Come on!’, “She is going to pay me for the smell and the permanent trauma.” She muttered.

“Whaaa?” Fíli looked shocked.

“Damn that girl!” She went on, walking faster “Come one, there are wargs coming and if you say ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ one more time I swear I will kill you myself.”

* * *

“IF ANYONE ELSE DIES ONE MORE TIME!” Alê screamed as soon as she woke up. “MAY SOMEONE HELP THEM ‘CAUSE I’LL BE THE NEXT ONE TO KILL THEM AGAIN!” She stormed off, “I swear if I wake up here one more time I’ll kill myself.”

“I think I just got eaten.” Lumi was in fetal position and was rocking her body back and forth with a blank stare.

“Yeah, you get used to it.” Barvo made a face as they approached. 

"So, on to plan Z?" Será looked around.

“On to plan Z.”

* * *

✵✵✵✵✵

## Lumimel

If Lumi could cry, she would. But she could not because they did not have time for sensitivity and feelings and she was tired. They had passed the giants and Beorn, Mirkwood and now she was in a cell. Talking back at Thranduil like Thorin did would not help, she concluded. At least being in prison, they now had food. Velaar, Alê and her had been put together, so at least she was not alone. Bilbo was a great pigeon, sending messages from there to there with his ring that made him invisible. Velaar had told her she still was not sure that was how Bilbo was able to wander around Mirkwood's cells without being seen by no one. But well, it mattered little to nothing in the moment. 

Right across her were Kíli and Fíli, she waved and they frowned, waving back. 

"I swear these two are a couple of half-wits, but God forgive me, they are hot." Alê commented.

Lumi nodded eagerly. At least they could be honest and actually talk once they were not going crazy about following a perfect plan. To be honest, Lumi saw their stay in Mirkwood as a holiday, no more obsessive talking about what could or could not get them killed.

"I think maybe this one time we might pull it off." She had commented.

She had been wrong, the day of their escape Barvo had been caught by an arrow on the chest. 

Well then. 

* * *

They woke up and to say they had lived a thousand lives was not too far off the truth. At least that was what it felt like. Lumi was ready to give up, maybe they were in hell, that was the true nature of that place. Every time they felt more and more tired, how long had they been at it? They had completed their journey at least five or six times. The years they spent coming back was being heavily felt. It looked less and less like a magical place and more like a place of constant punishment, for what she had yet to find out.

Fuck this. You know the rest, they tried again, and again, and again. They died, they let Thorin die countless times, then they saved Fíli and Kíli a couple times but it was not enough, they still started in the same place, they had to save everybody. Maybe all they had to do was give up. 

Thorin was not that nice of a king to be honest. He was mean and went insane, every single time.

“There is something we are not seeing.” Velaar commented “I am not giving up, guys, I am tired just like you. But we have to make it work.”

“Let’s start by not dying, that has always been the hardest part.” Barvo joined in, “I think I can count at least twenty five deaths on my part.”

“It’s actually thirty.” Será corrected.

“Oh, sorry I got the numbers wrong!” Barvo growled.

“Guys, let’s go, or the wargs will catch us.”

Something about this turn felt different, though everything still looked the same.

* * *

✵✵✵✵✵✵

## Barvo

As we ran, my bags seemed to be getting heavier and heavier. I thought of leaving all my stuff in order to run faster and, well, survive. But I knew we would need what was in them once we escaped, because we would, I knew we would. I had to believe we would. We would reach Rivendell. 

I saw a huge mass jumping on my sister and knocking her to the ground. It was an orc, it was not like the orcs we were used to seeing in the present, I know I said it many times before, but those were vicious. I knew what they looked like thanks to history classes, but still, neither movies or those lessons gave them any credit. They were huge and bloody, literally bloody and I wondered if they had actually bathed in blood. I started to feel disgust when I realised I could get a little bit of the blatant racism that was constantly going on at the time.

Damn, why did not history teachers underline several times how fucked up the past of Middle-Earth was when all the races still lurked around? This was why people always said messing up with timelines was a bad idea, damn it! 

“Barvo! Help me, Barvo!” She cried.

I stayed like that, not knowing what to do like a fucking idiot. That was when I felt a hand on mine, someone was pulling me. I came back to my senses and automatically pushed back and punched however held me, I needed to get to my sister. The person yelped and released me as I ran to her. 

I used my whole weight to knock down the orc and he fell, not having readied himself for the impact, pushing him far away from my sister who immediately stood up and pulled me back. We kept running, trying to catch up with the others, but I was too slow. I released my sister’s hand and told her to run. It was the only thing I could do. 

They were reaching for me and I knew that I had no weapon but my guitar on me. That was it. I had to bid farewell to my dearest Angus the third. My beautiful guitar, I whimpered internally. I asked myself from which angle should I hit my guitar on the orcs’ faces and how many hits would it take for it to break. One, probably. Damn, that was bad.

I started taking my guitar case out of my shoulder. But then I saw the crazy Ragadast dude, flying past me, trying to distract the orcs. I took my chance and kept running and praying that I would not have to use my guitar.

* * *

We arrived at Rivendell safely. At least that.

“Oh, guys, I think I punched someone on the way here, by the way.” I mentioned, remembering the whole event.

“Yes. God, I’ve never seen you so mad. What was that all about?” Lumi pointed at me with her thumb.

“You guys seriously didn’t see Será being knocked down by an orc?” I threw my hands up.

“Yeah, he smelled bad.” Será’s eyes widened, probably remembering the whole thing vividly.

We all made a face of complete disgust. That must have been something alright. But nothing beats being eaten by a warg. Maybe being eaten by Gollum, yes, maybe that beats it.

“So… who did I punch?”

Lumi opened her mouth “It was Fíli.”

Nice. I was probably going to die for punching the royal family.

"Yay, one more death to my collection."

“Don’t worry, I think you are good.”

And I sure held on to that hope because I knew I would not survive to another death. This time things felt final, we just knew this was our last shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this point of the story might seem stupid but it's very important as their archaic gets better every time, and every time they live one more life, they get more and more attached to the company... because they have known them for a long time.
> 
> Next chapter is in Bilbo's POV ^^


	6. These are strange times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, Gandalf should know he was asking too much of them to trust these strangers. But he keeps trying anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I changed my mind in putting the rest of my fic in another separate part, it just looked very weird.
> 
> And yay I finally can explore a little bit more with the Polist and Neutro language, 'cause it's in Bilbo's and Thorin's pov!
> 
> Okay, so Polistan is closer to modern Portuguese and Galician while Neutro is very similar to Archaic in the way that it uses Galician-Portuguese as a base, added with French, Italian and Latin terms. Now, of course they will use vocabulary fairly similar to those languages, but I also had to create expressions based on the culture I am building. The difference is, Neutro should be used as a way for every culture to understand each other. Which means it doesn't have many expressions, because it tries to stay impartial to the different cultures there are. Of course it's impossible to completely delete every cultural thing in a language, but well, I tried to keep Neutro as neutral as possible.
> 
> Polistan however is a whole other story, their history might be short but boy oh boy did it constantly change. Also, sometimes it's pretty much Brazilian-Portuguese with a twist. As I said before, it's heavily inspired by it.
> 
> Also I might have added a bit of phonetic theories here and there.
> 
> And for their ages, I know they are kind of older because of the loops, but I don't think they were worried about thinking of their age when they were trying to survive. So I thought they'd simply use their age when they got in Middle-Earth in the first place.

## Bilbo

Bilbo was not old, but he certainly was not young either. He had seen his fair share over the years. It was the first time he saw such an odd group of people. Three elves, a hobbit and a dwarf with pink braids and his sides shaved. And for some reason, no beard.

They spoke some weird language, however it did not sound that far off from Westron, for some reason. And they seemed to understand Westron okay-ishly. Which brought him to another question: how come these three different kinds of people spoke the same strange language? Where were they from?

All five wore weird gear, the elf with braids and very dark skin wore a long black shirt that showed her shoulders and short brown pants, some small sized shoes with laces. The other elf with tan skin was wearing a ponytail, a striped shirt, very, very short pale pants, and the same type of shoes. The third elf was wearing the same type of clothes then the two others. The lady hobbit wore a dress and shoes. When Bilbo saw the shoes he wondered if she was just a child, but he looked at her face and he could definitely tell that she was at least in her tweens. Then, the dwarf, (he was such a strange looking dwarf from what he had seen) looked a bit too young, (round the age of Kíli, but he did not even have a mustache yet). He wore a sort of bluish overall and a bright orange shirt, same shoes as all others. They all looked oh-so-young, which made Bilbo shiver. He did not like to see such young people facing adventures of any sort.

Then, of course there was Thorin who looked on edge, he went to talk with Elrond and came back in a foul mood. Bilbo had heard him mutter something about having to stay in Rivendell for a week. Which Bilbo was quite honestly very thankful for.

He had taken the opportunity to have a nice walk on those beautiful gardens in well deserved peace. That was when he heard the sound of strings being hit by dexterous fingers. The tune reached his ears, and he felt it tugging at him, calling him close. The voice was sweet and high pitched, but strong. It sounded like one of those singers who sang only of tragedy. It reminded him of what he thought to be an elven voice. 

Another voice, sweeter and younger finished the song. It was definitely a hobbitish voice. You couldn’t blame him for wanting to see the owners of the voices. So Bilbo took his chance and followed the sound of the music that led him to a nice pond, there sat the hobbit he saw before and surprisingly, the dwarf. There was also Thorin who was sitting down by their side. What an odd sight. They finished their song and the lady-hobbit held her hand high, opening her five fingers and receiving a hit on her raised hand. They cheered each other on. Such a weird ritual. 

Suddenly a shadow cast down at him, Bilbo looked up and saw the gigantic elf with dark brown and copper red braids, he had never seen such a pattern, not even amongst the dwarves, she was looking at him curiously.

“ _Ellos presperam ferte, né?”_ She asked him and smiled.

He took some steps away. “Excuse me, I didn’t mean to intrude.” He gestured.

She frowned and rolled her eyes. “I know.” Her accent was thick, her vowels were pronounced in a much more open way than Bilbo would have said it.

It was barely understandable, so much so that Bilbo wondered if she was saying ‘I left’ or ‘I know’. 

“What?”

“‘Cê bêleca harba a mêma coisa tota vez.”

“What?”

“Exactly, what.” She said, then she smirked "I am messing with you, master Baggins. I almost got you, huh? Don’t worry, I can speak your junkie version of Westron."

"My junkie what? As in the trash? How do you know my name?" Bilbo frowned.

"As in… let's say drunk, okay? Let’s just say I know things, a bit like everyone else with me." She made some gestures, indicating the lady-hobbit and the dwarf who were talking to Thorin. 

"What?"

"Listen, I don't want to confuse you even more.” She seemed scared, _“Eu refuso reapaixar por issu._ " She proceeded to mutter.

Then she turned to the lady-hobbit _“Ôh-Lumi, Bilbo est'aqui. Non vulias papotar con el? Esta é ta oportunidad dy parlar arcaico.”_

The language sounded very close to Westron, but she spoke too fast for him to understand clearly what she said. But he was sure he heard his name.

Then the lady-hobbit turned to them.

“Hello, Bilbo. Can we help you with anything?” She smiled at him.

“N-nothing… I mean, I was just listening to you singing. It was quite delightful, if I'm being honest. Didn’t expect a dwarf to sound so… sweet.”

Thorin’ ever-present frown deepened and the dwarf made a face but stayed in silence, it seemed like he already knew that the lady-hobbit was going to protest. 

“Really? Because they are dwarves, they can’t have a sweet voice?” She rolled her eyes, 

Her accent was substantially different from the elf, her vowels were pronounced in a closed way instead of stressing them, she cut them short. So the lady-hobbit and the elf did not share the same language, or at least did not share it from birth. Bilbo let that knowledge sink in. What a mystery they were.

“I think it’s a bit racist to think like that. You… you…” She stopped for a few seconds, probably looking for the words she wanted to use, “You put people in a category because they are from a certain race. It’s not nice.” 

Bilbo couldn't help to take notice that her speaking skills were much more refined than the elf’s.

“Oh, I didn’t think of it like that.”

“Lumi.” The dwarf called the lady-hobbit in a warning tone then added something in a hushed tone and she agreed.

He could feel the curtain of tension draping on their shoulders as the awkward silence stretched out. The elf sighed loudly and put on a slightly forced smile.

"Do you want to listen to some good music? Oh, by the way, my name is Alelebela or Alê, but some people call me Kianda." 

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Bilbo answered automatically. “And I don’t see why not, I never say no to...” 

“Why do people call you Kianda?” Thorin rudely interrupted him.

Thorin’s deep voice felt so heavy in Bilbo’s ear that he wondered if he was the only one feeling it. And instantly like that, the tension seemed to rise again.

“Because I am a warrior, and that’s my warrior name.” She answered proudly.

“‘Tis a lie, for you are all too young to have ever faced a battle, let alone have received a warrior name afterward.”

The look on Alê's eyes seemed to have darken with sadness.

“I don’t want to offend you, your majesty but you don’t know my land. You know of difficulty but me too. I stayed when most ran away.” She answered sincerely.

Thorin stood up, glaring at Alê and she stared right back.

“So, music!” The dwarf put himself between Alê and Thorin. “We know a lot of music! I’m Barvo, by the way.”

Lumi stood up and passed by Thorin, unbothered by the whole display, as if she had dealt with this kind of situation a lot.

“Alright. Now come, you'll hear better if you’re closer.” She shrugged and took Bilbo’s hand and pulled him closer to the pond. 

Barvo went back to playing his lute and Lumi sang along, sometimes Kianda would follow, slightly deeper than Lumi. Sometimes they sang and he understood, sometimes he was left wondering what they were talking about. They all seemed to share the same culture, a culture that seemed to give too much importance in the beauty of sounds but the feelings often did not seem to match. For instance, they started singing for the first time a dancing tune, but then they were all crying as they sang it. Later, they sang a sad, sad song but could not stop themselves from laughing.

Such a strange group of people indeed.

* * *

✵

When dinner came, things went all over the place. The dwarves took offense in not having meat during dinner and were roaring angrily. The strange guests were laughing which made the dwarves scream at the three elven guests. They seemed scared as if it was not the first time they had faced such adversity.

“Ya bunch of tree-shaggers! You think it funny, aye, that we starve like a bunch of prisoners, eh!” Nori exclaimed and received a glare from Dori.

“You are going to starve the wee dwarfling at the table, she needs to eat or she will never grow a beard!” Kíli growled and the whole table agreed.

“I guess this didn’t work for you then.” Bilbo muttered as he drank from the cup he was given. 

Their eyes went all looking at the pink haired ‘dwarfling’.

“How old are ya, anyway? We’ve been placing bets ever since we got ‘ere. And what are ya doing walking with such a questionable company, ey? This place is way too far away from the blue mountains. It’s no place for a dwarfling.” Glóin asked Barvo with a mouth full of salad. “Ya hair looks like a warrior’s, why would you keep it that way? Surely you still haven’t faced a battle yet.”

Barvo finally looked up, his face betrayed him as he glanced with guilt at the dwarves. The Dwarves had called him she, he noticed. They knew better than he did, he guessed.

“One: I am not a girl or a boy and I prefer them” Now that Bilbo could hear h-them properly, he noticed that their accent was thick and quite melodic, similar to Alê’s. “Two, I don’t really have a two.”

Bilbo rolled his eyes at that, those half-witted dwarves. There was a moment of bickering between Elrond’s strange guests. The light skinned elf, one of the two that had not been introduced to Bilbo yet, spoke up.

“They are nineteen years old.” 

This made the whole table protest in anger and disbelief, even Bilbo joined in. To send a child away, that was just wrong.

“But we are human, so they are almost an adult?” The elf tried to calm them down.

This only helped to fuel the angry group even more, as though every word said by the elf was a spark that could easily start a fire and burn down a forest. 

“Who are you calling a human? They are a proud wee dwarfling, you pointy-eared fiend!” Óin protested.

There was more bickering amongst the guests.

“How old are all of you?” Elrond shushed them.

They all bent over to hear what they had to say, apparently Elrond’s guests did not have anything better to do than to know the odd five newcomers’ ages.

“First, introductions.” Lumi put a hand in front of herself then in front of the light skinned elf. “I’m Lumi, She is Velaar.”

She pointed a finger at each person. Bilbo should probably correct her, that was not a proper way for a hobbit to behave. Pointing fingers was absolutely impolite and barbaric. No matter, her antics worked and soon everybody had been properly introduced. 

“Now you tell your ages.” Thorin growled impatiently.

Velaar raised her hand. “I’m twenty, Alê is twenty, Lumi is twenty-one, Será is seventeen and Barvo is nineteen.”

Elrond dropped his food as did some of the dwarves. There was a long silence that followed this.

“SEVENTEEN? WHAT IS A BABY DOING HERE?” Glóin broke the silence.

“Why are you all here?!” Elrond joined the discussion. “How can you look like matured elves when… when?”

They all looked completely confused and perplexed, Bilbo could hardly blame them.

“We are humans, so we are adults. Será and Barvo will be adults very soon too.” Velaar reasoned.

“I hate to break it to ya, but you don’t look very human to me.” Balin shook his head.

“Well, we were.” Lumi butted in. “There was… a s-sp…” She kept looking around as if maybe the word she lost was now out in the wild and maybe she would find it there.

“Spell?” Gandalf frowned when all of them nodded. “I never heard of such a thing before, humans turned into other races?”

“Well, that would explain the different language and how they can get each other.” Bilbo commented.

Gandalf started to lean back in his chair, “This is well unheard of. But it may be possible.”

Elrond made a sound “You also mentioned… not being from the past?”

The past? That made no sense.

The five of them seemed to have sensed danger. They were meticulously calculating every word they said like their lives were at stake and any slip could have disastrous consequences. Their eyes looked everywhere around them and they were tense, ready to bolt at any sign of hostility. Bilbo concluded these were deeply traumatized children, he could tell, he had been there himself.

“Oh, yes, the past. Now is the past. We are not from now. We are from… the present?” Alê answered.

Alê’s Westron was way worse than Lumi’s and Velaar’s and her accent was thicker but her sentences slipped through her lips, dancing in a song only they could sing. 

“We are from the future.” Lumi agreed. “Oh, that was the word I was looking for: Future!” She then proceeded to lightly punch her forehead in a demeaning way. 

“We are here to help the dwarves!” Barvo told them darkly.

They looked as though anybody who disagreed had to be challenged. 

“Well, you do have a bit of a beard if you squint.” Kíli squinted. “Actually it’s more of a small mustache.”

“I have a _mustache_?” Barvo did not seem to understand the word. 

Kíli gestured his upper lip. Soon, understanding came over the foreigners and they all gasped. It seemed like having a mustache in their culture was not a compliment.

“Oh, I have a mustache? Is it good?” Fíli and Kíli nodded eagerly “Thank you?” Barvo sounded very confused.

“Well, it’s more of baby hair, but if you let it grow I’m sure it could turn into a beautiful beard!” Fíli explained, not really noticing the disapproving looks he was receiving from the ladies. 

Barvo only shrugged, not really caring.

“I think we are all going to overlook the fact that a bunch of strangers just said they come from the future and they used to be humans.” Thorin hissed per usual.

“Yes! We are from the future you understand, right?” Lumi smiled, not getting any of the grumpiness of mister King under the mountain. 

Maybe she did but she sincerely did not care at all. Bilbo could admire that.

“Prove it.” Was Thorin’s answer.

“You Thorin, King under the mountain. Our History books tell your story and your company’s. We know what you want to do. We know you need to stay a week here because of a map.” Lumi listed. “And We know Gandalf gave you a key, you keep it close to your heart.” 

“What do they mean, Thorin?” Elrond asked, he did not look happy.

“Nothing you need to worry about, my lord.” Lumi assured.

Bilbo was left a bit confused, but Thorin had gone pale, he understood exactly what they meant by it.

“You five shall come talk to us in a bit.” Balin suggested.

They all nodded.

* * *

✵✵

## Balin

Balin did not know how they had come to this. But it must had been a blessing from Mahal. Why else had these five appeared out of nowhere? And so Thorin needed to be convinced.

“Why in Eru’s name would Mahal bring three tree-shaggers to help us? Maybe the Valar are against us.” Thorin had been pacing for the past five minutes.

“He also brought a dwarf and a hobbit.”

Balin did not really believe in the human part, or the supposedly future thing, but he knew that the foreigners knew things and it was best to keep them close rather than let them go with all that knowledge. Who knew who else they could find on their way and choose to help?

“Maybe they are the reason why the orcs came after us!” Thorin growled.

“I don’t think so, uncle. One of the elves was knocked down and almost killed by an orc and if you’ve seen Barvo’s face you could tell she-, sorry,- they were terrified. I really don't think they were part of the attack.” Fíli patted Thorin’s shoulder. 

“Plus, when was the last time you’ve seen an elf befriending an orc?” Balin tried to reason him.

“These are strange times we are living in.” Thorin answered back, and Balin could tell he was not going to be easily swayed.

“Listen, keep your friends close and keep your enemies even closer, right? Better keep an eye out for them.” Fíli pointed out.

“But they are children and probably not even properly trained.” Dwalin disagreed.

“Maybe, or maybe not. How else would they have survived in the wild?” Balin shook his head. “Even Elrond is on edge about this whole affair. I can’t believe that such young people could look so mature. Maybe there is some truth in their tale.”

“Maybe.” Thorin agreed and stopped pacing when the five approached loudly, sounding like oliphants before the slaughter, Gandalf was with them and he seemed trapped deep in his thoughts. 

“Your majesty,” Velaar bowed along with the others. “At your service…?” She seemed hesitant, not knowing whether or not that was correct, or rather, not being certain if it was the right way to say it. 

“There is no need for formalities.” Thorin said through gritted teeth. He did not like elves very much.

“Now, now, I was just talking to these lovely young people and I think it would be in your best interest to take them with you…” Gandalf said thoughtfully. 

“We don’t need your advice, Gandalf.” 

“Well, you listened to me in regards to our burglar and he ended up saving your ponies and your lives.” He took his pipe out of his poked and started filling it with pipe weed.

“Before having put them in jeopardy because he made too much noise. If he was competent then he wouldn’t have been caught!” Thorin’s skin went red as his voice got so loud it could have raised the dead.

“Yet you still seem to appreciate his company.” Gandalf inhaled deeply and let out a long puff of rainbow smoke rings.

Thorin automatically calmed down and looked down slightly embarrassed.

“May I speak frankly, Gandalf?” Balin approached him.

Gandalf nodded.

“What did they tell you that made them gain your favor?” 

“Well, let’s just say they gave me some… enlightening information.” He smiled mischievously. 

“I think taking them with us is going to slow us down.” Dwalin grumbled.

“Well, if I must convince you and I will.” Gandalf pointed at Será, the tanned elf, “Será here can shoot with a bow and arrow, fight with swords, and she is a good rider.” 

He then looked at the lady-hobbit “Lumi is a great sprinter and a hobbit, which means for a secretive travelling companion, she hasn’t been indulged in the art of eating yet, so she doesn’t require as much food and for some reason, can fight with a couple of small swords and is a good rider. You are quite strange for a hobbit, Mistress Lumimel.” He looked at her in awe.

She smiled at him, proud of herself.

He turned to Barvo. “Barvo has a lot of strength, they have basic fighting skills with an ax and they are a good rider.” 

He turned to the light skin elf “Velaar,” right, that was her name, “can fight with her fists alone and has some basic survival skill in the wild, she is also used to walking long distances, which you could use, she is a decent rider. Her weapon of choice is a long-sword and daggers.” 

He then went to the dark skinned elf “Alê or Kianda, that’s her warrior name, can also fight with her fists alone, she is also a sprinter and a rider. Bow and arrow are her weapon of choice.” He finished, or so Balin thought. 

“Not to mention their elven eyes can be used to our advantage. And if what they say is true, which I believe it is, their foresight might come in handy and even be an essential addition for us to succeed in our little expedition.”

“Oh, he really thought this through.” Fíli commented with wide eyes.

“I’d like to say so myself.” Gandalf smiled proudly.

“They will need weapons, and Dwalin will train them for now. If I like what I see, maybe I’ll consider taking them.” Thorin announced. “But I can’t promise anything.”

“Wait, you won’t even ask us?” the lady-hobbit stepped up. “You talk about us, you decide for us and we can’t say anything?” She stomped her foot. “No, we also have a say on this matter.” 

Velaar frowned and nodded, “We have one week to prove ourselves? But Bilbo had no tests to pass?” 

Although they did not seem to like the whole idea they did not seem surprised either.

“Bilbo was not a stranger to Gandalf, he trusts him, nobody trusts you yet.”

“Fair, but you don't trust Bilbo either.” 

* * *

✵✵✵

## Dwalin

Dwalin made sure he knew their background for their training. Their sessions went surprisingly well for some people, namely Será. Será had a long list of sports and activities that turned out to be useful in that moment, and she thrived in any weapon she gave a try. Dwalin was surprised to find himself cheering on Kianda (if she had a warrior name then he ought to respect it), who was proud of her achievements as well. She was a fighter, all right, she just had to get better on her precision. He gave her a bow and arrow and a dagger. He wanted to keep her as light as he could, that was the advantage elves had, better use it on their side.

Lumi’s years of ‘stick dancing’ (whatever that meant) lessons were a blessing because she had all the precision that Kianda did not have. Velaar’s training in the martial arts was a gift sent from Mahal, she was even able to easily knock out Kíli. However he made sure that she could properly handle the long-sword Elrond provided. Barvo had a harder time keeping up, which made him slightly worried and hesitant to give them an actual ax (just because the wizard told him they could do it did not mean they really could) but Dwalin soon found out that they could actually handle an ax decently. Barvo had a lot of strength and seemed to be used to swinging things around, take it as you will.

They obviously had some experience and were not completely lost in a fight. At least on the training ground, that is. Dwalin wondered if he should be surprised, after all, Middle-Earth could be a rough place. It was not kind to the dwarves or those who wandered far from home. 

By the end of the week, he was almost glad they were not as doomed as before. He was proud of increasing their life span even if it was only for two more months.

“Lift your arm a bit harder, and protect your vulnerable side!” He was about to change Kianda’s foot position when she did it on her own. 

Dwalin never asked them how they always knew what he was about to do, but they simply did.

When Thorin came over in the morning, everything stopped and they all looked at him. The world always faded whenever the king was around. No sound was made as he nodded to acknowledge Dwalin. He then threw Dwalin’s bag and said something he was not expecting to hear.

“Pack your bags, all of you. We don’t have time to spare if we are to ever make it to the mountains in time.” Thorin was already on the move 

“You heard him lads!” Dwalin screamed but none seemed to move. “We go to the mountains, now.”

That did the trick and they all ran fast towards their chambers to do what they had to do.

“I didn’t but he proved himself.”

“Proved himself in the way? We can train, we would even love to. But we will follow you after that.” Lumi stated with a final tone and left.

Barvo shrugged “Sorry.” and followed her, accompanied by Será.

“Hm… bye.” Velaar bowed and left with Alê.

“Well… that was odd.” Fíli commented while watching the five go.

* * *

✵✵✵

## Thorin

Thorin was not sure why he decided to take them with him, but he had no time to think now. Elrond had read the map and he was not happy with the whole retaking the mountain idea. Thorin did not want to risk his entire mission because he hesitated when he was supposed to make a decision. 

He had until Durin’s day, oh how fitting, was it not? 

He walked through those damned elvish gardens the hobbit seemed to appreciate so much. He did not question him about it, though he wished he did. Thorin should have talked to their burglar when he had the chance in there, because he had not taken it. To be honest, Thorin was still very wary of the halfling. He did not trust with ease and he knew he had reason to. Life had never been kind to him. 

As he walked, he bumped into a few fellow dwarves and he wasted no time warning them that their stay was over. When he finally found who he was looking for, reading an elvish book under a tree, his face dropped (well, more), for some reason the very presence of the privileged git was enough to rile him up. He had everything that life had forbidden Thorin to have. 

“Take your things, burglar, we are going.” 

He then made his way back passing through the kitchen, where he caught Nori stealing food, he only nodded, he kept in his instinct to smile. It was not his fault, really, if elves were easy to take things from. Maybe it was the detestable pointy ears and everything else. 

In half an hour everything was packed and every one was ready to go but Gandalf, who chose to stay to distract Elrond before he noticed they were gone. That was when he remembered the five. 

“Remember, until you have proven yourself worthy of being here among us and not a burden, you are susceptible to be sent back to wherever you come from.”

“Whenever.” Alelebela corrected him.

Thorin refused to talk to elves unless it was an affair of the utmost importance. That was the only exception and it was not about to change now. So he decided that after that little discussion they were having, that was it. He did not care that he was taking in three of those pointy-eared tree-shaggers, that did not matter because if he could avoid talking to them, he would.

“Whenever you come from.”

“I sure wish you would.” She answered laughing quietly to herself.

He gritted his teeth, he was stuck with a crazy elf, great. 

The lady-hobbit nodded, agreeing with the elf. The dwarfling looked up and seemed actually scared. Guilt started to eat him out, they were younger than Ori. Actually, they were all younger than everyone. They had a seventeen year old in their company, for Mahal’s sake. What was he doing? Thorin could not help but feel like he was taking children to the slaughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought that in this case it would be interesting to have some translations:
> 
> Polistan:
> 
> \- Ellos presperam ferte, né?: They are good, right?  
> \- 'Cê bêleca harba a mêma coisa tota vez: You always say/repeat the same thing every time.  
> \- Eu refuso reapaixar por issu: I refuse to live through this once more.
> 
> Neutro:
> 
> \- Ôh-Lumi, Bilbo est'aqui. Non vulias papotar con el? Esta é ta oportunidad dy parlar arcaico.: Hey, Lumi, Bilbo is here. Didn't you want to talk to him? This is your opportunity to speak archaic.


	7. Será, the queen of the fall, literally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They think they finally figured out what was going wrong, but that means changing things, and who knows what could happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this chapter will be a whole lot of crack and maybe a bit of feels…  
> A little guide for you all:  
> Whenever something is in italic in a dialogue on one of the time-traveler’s pov, then it means it’s being said in archaic and they can understand it.  
> Trigger warning for a panic attack.

## Thorin

Thorin never took an eye out of the foreigners, one always needed to be wary when wariness was needed. While they were making their way across the mountains, the newcomers barely spoke. They also refused to let Thorin cast the elves out of their night camp. Which angered him for being challenged but he ended up allowing it. He noticed that the whole company was curious about the five. Kíli and Fíli decided they were to teach the dwarfling a bit of Khuzdul so they could be in touch with their culture. But the dwarfling was uninterested, always getting distracted and acting like a lazy student. 

Their fluency in Westron was also questionable, sometimes it took them a long time to understand them, usually that was when Bilbo would intervene. 

That was another thing that was starting to annoy him was the way Bilbo acted around these strangers, with patience and kindness, but overly so. He had a particular preference for the lady-hobbit, and he seemed to have it as his own personal goal to teach her the ways of a proper hobbit. He took her as his ward. It was getting on his nerves. How could he be the only one to see the problem? 

When they finally had gotten to a point of no return on the pathway to the mountains, the fair-skinned elf walked to him.

"What do you have to say?" Thorin asked, he felt bored.

"We want to warn you about the Misty Mountains." 

Thorin nodded, telling her to proceed.

"We need to take the path over the mountains."

"We are doing this already, there is nothing new in that." He knew they would be useless.

"I know,” She approached him and leaned over until she could properly whisper in his ear. “but you should know that you will have to face goblins."

Thorin inhaled deeply and took some steps back.

"When? How to avoid them?"

"You have to go over the mountains…"

Then, the lady-hobbit made an indignated noise behind her as she appeared out of nowhere. She stepped up, turning to the elf. Thorin had not even noticed her presence before, maybe Gandalf was right, they could be very quiet creatures when they wanted to.

_“Por que vulia repassar por lo pairo que foe aquela cagada? Mana, non deva…"_

Thorin tried understanding what they said and he was surprised when he got a whole sentence ‘I am not falling in this pit again, once is enough.’ at least he guessed that was what she said, but he did not understand what the discussion was about.

* * *

✵

## Velaar

_"You have to go over the mountains…"_

Velaar was confident that was the right way to proceed, after all, when they tried avoiding it, it only made matters worse.

"Why would you want to live through the hell that was that shit again? Bitch, no?! He will warn Azog that Thorin is still alive! And one more thing, I am not falling in this pit again, I swear to God once is enough." Lumi protested.

"Because we need the ring." 

“The war of the Ring is none of our business, it won't happen if they don't find it. If it really is that important, let’s just do it like last time: let’s get in Gollum’s cave through the tunnels.”

"He will, you know he will. Gandalf already told us that. And we already tried that, remember?”

"But we are here only to stop their death!” 

Everything stopped, all dwarves looked at them.

"Shit, death is the same word!" Velaar hissed. 

Thorin roared _"You wish for our death?!"_

_"We don't wish nobody's death."_

_"BETRAYAL!"_

" _They don't wish your death, Thorin."_ Dwalin came up to him " _Kianda has the honor of a warrior and a noble heart."_

"I swear to God…" Será was just shaking her head. "This guy will be the death of me…"

" _AND THEY DARE REPEAT IT!"_

"Será!!! DON'T SAY THE OPPOSITE WORD OF LIFE, PLEASE!" Velaar was about to lose it.

" _Listen, we don't wish your death, alright? We wish to help you as we said we would."_ Velaar growled, her patience running thin. _"You guys need to hold on tight to your weapons if you wanna live through it alright? There are terrible things lying in these mountains.”_ She turned to Bilbo, _“I don't know any other way for you to find it that doesn’t involve… bad things…"_ She told him apologetically then she stopped herself, realizing she was saying too much.

" _What? What will he find?!"_ Fíli pressed.

 _"His courage."_ She smiled, it worked in the movie, so maybe it would in real life.

" _Are you telling me we are risking everybody's lives because of his courage?! I'm sure he can find it elsewhere."_ Thorin said in a final tone. " _We are going around the mountain."_

That lying piece of garbage. 

_"NO! If you go around the mountain then you'll lose days, you don't want to be late. You don't even want to risk being late. Moreover, do you remember that orc troop? They are still hunting you down."_ Velaar did not want to challenge Thorin's leadership, because that could be dangerous but damn her if she did not try with everything she had.

" _Alright. We are going through the mountains then."_

Okay, Velaar had expected that. That was the reason why she chose to warn Thorin when he did not have a choice anymore but to go over the mountains anyway. But it was no matter, she could indulge his resistance against her plan, maybe it would give him the feeling of free-will, the feeling that in the end he had a say. But she guessed Thorin already knew the truth and was arguing for the sake of arguing.

She knew manipulating people was bad, but she was just tired of things going wrong and having to start over.

_“We need to go over the mountains, to pass through the mountains is too dangerous.”_

_“No.”_

Lumi then jumped at her rescue, Velaar had at least successfully convinced her. She had been the only one to disagree with the plan.

" _T_ _horin Oakenshield, don't listen to us if you don't wish to. But at least listen to your kind."_ Lumi turned to Barvo.

Barvo was the one among them with the most rights of speech since he was a dwarrow.

" _It’s true Master Oakenshield. You need to pass over the mountains. Trust me, please."_ Or something that sounded like that, Barvo's vocabulary was not that developed. 

_"We were going to do that already, there is nothing new to that."_ He finally relented. “ _You heard the elfling, have your weapons at the ready.”_

The other dwarves growled unhappily. 

_“May we speak in privacy?”_ Velaar added. 

She knew the answer but she felt her palms sweating regardless.

" _Whatever you have to say to Thorin you can say it in front of us!"_ Fíli exclaimed.

It was impressive how she had heard that sentence so many times and yet, this time it had her holding her breath.

" _Enough. Let us talk, but if I judge that whatever you say is information that you should disclose to the whole company, you will."_

Her muscles tensed, why was she shaking? What a weird feeling on her stomach, why was she nauseated? She nodded. No need to make a commotion out of it.

She passed by Alê who looked worried, this was something they never did before. She did not know where this was going, neither did Velaar to be honest. She wanted to reassure her, so she gently took Alê’s hand, held it for less than a second and let it go as their shoulders brushed when she made her way out of camp alongside Thorin. 

Though the gesture grounded her a bit, it was not enough to stop the sweating and her heart from beating so violently. Anxiety. It had been so long since she felt it that it took her some time to recognize it. She had no reason to feel it anyway. Before, she knew she was going to die and wake up where it all had started. Even then, she knew the outcome of almost anything they did. For the first time in years she was taking a leap in the dark. The years inside the time loop were tiring her out. Every rebirth took some of her energy and now she knew there was barely any left. 

Once she judged they were far enough, she made a gesture for them to sit, Thorin nodded. 

_"Say what you have to say, elfling."_

Velaar approached him, Thorin moved away. However, she made a sign for him to get closer. He did with no slight amount of wariness. She leaned in, getting so close that she could tell her breath was brushing his ears. 

_"Bilbo finds the one Ring and carries it for sixty years."_

There it was, she dropped the bomb. Once she straightened her stance, she saw his pale face, he seemed terrified, as though the dragon that killed his kin and took his mountain was nothing compared to this revelation. 

She knew he could decide to burn her like last time, but something told her that he needed to know. They all had agreed, if they were going to fail again this time, he better know what he had done to the bearer of the ring. 

_"War will come. This is why we want you to have Erebor, we need a fortress in the Northeast."_

_"Are you lying to me?! Bilbo will not have that fate!"_ Thorin roared.

" _I thought you hated him, anyway."_

_"I don't hate him. Even if I did, I would not wish such a burden upon my worst enemy."_

Well, your worst enemies are Azog and Bolg, so I would not want for them to have it either, she thought. Or was Smaug his worst enemy? Whoever it was, they definitely should not have the ring.

_"Don't worry, he is stronger than he looks. Oh, and you cannot tell him you know."_

_"Why is that?"_

_"Things could change badly."_

Thorin nodded and rose, he stayed in silence though. He clearly did not like this whole affair. 

_"We will follow what you say, but if anything goes wrong… I will kill all of you myself."_

Oh nice, I think we are already dead then, Velaar thought.

* * *

✵✵

## Thorin

Thorin did not ever think that he would feel any sort of compassion towards Bilbo, but he did. If the fate the elf had proclaimed to be Bilbo’s was true then Thorin would cry in his name. He never thought the small creature would ever carry a burden so heavy. Alas, there was nothing he could do, apparently that fate had to be sealed and locked away. 

Once he walked out from where they had been, he found the whole company eavesdropping. They automatically scattered away, pretending to be doing something else. He ignored them, there was too much going through his mind. Although Thorin had yet to see the foreigners’ foresight, he was not stupid. He knew that Gandalf would not trust anyone for no reason. If the wizard trusted them, then they were at least worth his time.

“You heard them, keep your weapons with you at all times.” Thorin stated as he sat down. “Now let us rest, tomorrow will be a long day.”

If he watched Bilbo a little more closely while he was on watch, then it was merely because he allowed himself to wonder what other challenge life would throw at the halfling. He did not like it. Probably because it changed the way he saw him. Maybe his life had been gentle, but nothing guaranteed it would stay that way. Maybe he got too used to Bilbo and he was getting under his skin. Whatever reason it was, it made Thorin take back every wish he made for the halfling's life to get sour. Now all he wanted to do was to make his life at least a bit easier.

They were in a very dangerous part of the path over the mountains when a storm started. Immediately Thorin was questioned about his decision to listen to the foreigners. He wondered if they knew. Then there was a landslide and rocks being thrown everywhere. Giants, of course they had to face giants. 

He felt the world disappear when he saw his youngest nephew being separated from him. He noticed he was stuck with one of the elves. The foreigners screamed her name in despair but Thorin could not bring himself to care because Kíli was in danger and he had made a promise. Although he was not certain he could keep it, he would do everything he could to do so. However, he could not think of anything to get to him. 

He turned around to ask someone something when he saw the hobbit slipping. Great. He had also made himself a promise. Honestly, at this point he was just piling promises on top of promises he could not keep. Thorin was someone rash, but never in his life had he done something as ridiculous as jumping to catch the halfling. He knew he could trust Dwalin, but if he was being honest, he had not thought he would catch him. He simply had not thought at all. 

It was the halfling’s fault, he should go home. What was he doing with them? Was he insane? Maybe he really was. Thorin felt anger boiling, life really was out to get the privileged git. 

Once everyone was safe in a concave they had found, Thorin walked straight to Bilbo. One of the elves tried stopping him, but he slapped her hand away, he had enough of all these people making his life harder.

“Are you out of your mind?! What was that? You couldn't keep your feet on the path?! If you can't even do that then you should go home!” Thorin burst out, “Because of you this whole mission is constantly being put at risk! This is not where you belong. You belong in the Shire, among your kind with your gardens and small hills.” He could taste the venom spilling out of his lips as he spat the words. 

He just needed him to be far, he had too many promises to keep. Maybe the Ring would find another bearer and it would not be Bilbo.

"Don't go _."_ The lady-hobbit, Lumi, held Bilbo’s hand "Listen, Bilbo, you should stay. He said you belong with your kind, well, I'm a hobbit, you are a hobbit. We… we belong." She looked at Thorin with anger. "He signed the paper. He belongs, he is part of the company. He signed." 

The contract.

"You promised you would stay." She looked at Bilbo intensely and he looked down, nodding.

He had no idea what she was talking about, but it was none of his business.

"I did but I can't stay if he sends me away."

"Kings follow their words." She held on firmly into Bilbo's drenched sleeve. "He has good music taste." She smirked. 

Thorin was being looked at with judgement. His nephews watched attentively, waiting for his final word. He could not allow for such a fate to take hold of Bilbo. He had heard some tales about the one Ring and they were all headed to end in tragedy. 

"Are you defying my word?" He hissed back. "Over music?"

"No?" The hobbit crossed her arms. "But it’s true, Bilbo has great ears." She touched her ears with her hands. 

Why are all of these foreigners insane? He thought, exasperated. Thorin decided he would not enter in this discussion and nodded, looking around.

"We should rest here."

The lady-hobbit’s eyes suddenly widened. “The goblins! You shouldn’t rest here.”

Thorin inhaled, something deep inside him told him that maybe if they did not face the goblins as they predicted then Bilbo would not have to carry the Ring. 

“We can’t go out now, there is a storm outside and part of the path is gone!” Kíli complained.

They were right, they did end up being trapped. Thorin felt his jaw tensing, so it was here that things would happen. He turned to look at the halflings again and noticed the lady-hobbit was trembling violently.

“What is happening to you, dear?” Bilbo asked gently, hugging her. 

She started to stutter, unable to answer, her breath picked up at a fast pace and her limbs were quivering so much she looked like a leaf being blown by the wind. The dwarfling and the tallest elf went to her rescue. They took her away from Bilbo’s arms and knelt down in front of her, telling her reassuring words, trying to sooth her. Then the other elves came between them and the company, blocking their view of the halfling, protecting her.

“Velaar, what is going on?” Bilbo asked worriedly.

The rest of the company was also trying to have a peak, curious of what was happening.

“She needs space, all of you, step back.” She warned them. “You should be getting ready to fight, let us handle it.”

* * *

✵✵✵

## Será

Even on their first time, Será had heard of the giants, of course she had. She remembered that part from Bilbo’s novel. What she had not expected was it to be a full blown earthquake leading to landslides and accompanied by a dangerous storm. She would never forget how tight she hung on the stone. Another thing that she had not expected was to be separated from her time-travelling companions this time. Once they made it back, she held onto her friends, crying slightly.

Será did not ask much in life. She asked maybe for a nice bed and good food, books and a whole lot of daydreaming. That was it. She loved the stars and the Sun: the brightest of them. She liked fresh water and the sound of a stream flowing nearby, she also liked to listen to the sounds of birds. Será did not like falling. When it was all fun and games and she predicted the fall, it was quite alright. However, when the fall came out of nowhere, well, that was where she drew the line. 

Será always thought how dumb they had been to stop at the first cave they saw. Sure, it was important for History to take place, but it was dumb nonetheless. Then the pathway that led over the mountains had disappeared. On second thought, she preferred not to be in the path when it was obliterated. 

They all looked on edge after that. Well, they damn should. Soon, they would be attacked by Goblins. Lumi had a panic attack, which was never good in a situation like this. Once she had calmed down, Barvo went to hold onto his bag and his sword. The only thing that lightened her mood was that she knew her sibling had hidden their guitar in their huge bag. They were way too attached to that thing. She could not blame them though, it had saved their lives a few times.

Once she started preparing her daggers, Kíli came up to her. This time was full of surprises it seemed.

“ _Cause me moiro dy cranhor.”_ He laughed as he crossed his arm. 

She had no idea what he said.

“Ugh, I don’t know what you want, but you’ve been a real pain. So I hope for your sake you want nothing.” She grumbled but she looked at his confused face and took pity. “ _Cause moiro dy cranhor.”_ She agreed to whatever he said, he nodded and patted her arm. 

She stood there lost in thoughts wondering what had just happened. Then, in the next second, the floor was gone and they fell. Again. She was sure she could have lived the rest of her life without ever doing it again. She fell and then there was noise, so much noise and screaming. She brandished her dagger as the first goblins came and attacked along with the company. It was nothing she had not done before. Although she had fallen in a slightly different place then she usually did, making the attacks hard to predict. It was probably why she ended up being knocked down. Then she fell again. Why was she even surprised that was her life, now?

Her last thought before the world went black was that she needed a crown for queen of the fall, but literally the fall, not in the figurative way of speech because, oh boy, would that title be an accurate summary of what her life was these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause me moiro dy cranhor: I almost died out of fear.  
> I know Kíli probably wouldn’t admit feeling fear, but I thought that maybe since Será lived through the same thing he had, he thought she would understand.


	8. Why answer riddles when you have crisps and metal?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the title is actually a great summary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I was going to make this chapter longer, but it was too long and I decided to cut it in two.
> 
> You guys are going to have to use a little bit of suspension of disbelief for this chapter.  
> Trigger warning: A concussion…?  
> And yet another creepy lullaby. This one is from my own creation but it was inspired by a real song called “Nana neném”. Don't jugde my lack of rhythm and pace lol, it's pretty bad, but I tried my best.
> 
> summary of the song: a monster kidnaps a baby, you don’t need to know more.
> 
> Don’t read this if you don’t want to read the song!  
> Fun fact about the original song that inspired mine: it starts with someone telling a baby to sleep because the equivalent of the Cuca witch (She has a crocodile head, Brazilian folklore folks) will come to kidnap them (yes, she eats children, not before torturing them) and we find out that the person is neither the father or the mother of the baby, leading us to understand that Cuca is the one singing that song to sooth the baby as she takes them away. I kind of just realised it recently when I translated it to a friend who got super scared lol.

## Barvo

When everything seems to be bad, and you are an atheist, sometimes it happens for you to pray, right? At least that is what I do when I panic. God may not exist but I need a safespace, so I pray. To be honest the correct term would be: ‘thinking-in-the-third-person-and-calling-it-meditation’, that is what I do.

At that moment however, I did not pray as they took me away from my sister who had just fallen. I could not see her and I did not know if she was still alive. It was the only thing I cared about. There was a song and I heard something about bones but why did it matter? Será was not there. 

A huge monster, the goblin started talking. I did not know when we had been taken there. Maybe he knew where she was? Maybe I could ask and he would tell me that they had seen her not too long ago trying to punch one of them. 

_"Rey sob a montanya?! Sen montanya dy nada es Rey. Al fin, tu non es ninén. Moiro dy querer cosalo al vousso inimigo que te vi assin legar en casa mya._ " The goblin suddenly spoke.

He always said the same thing and I never bothered to ask anybody what it meant, the goblin’s accent was hard to get. I think I understood the dwarves' accent better. Why was I thinking about this when Será was missing? She always helped me make sense of things. She was younger but she taught me the alphabet, she taught me how to tie my laces and that chewing gums that did not come straight from the package were bad. Things were not right when she was gone. So why was she not there when everyone needed her?

"Wait!"

Everyone turned their head to me. Oh right, I was the one speaking, lucky me that 'wait' was the same word. 

"Where is she?" I tried to approach the monster that smelled bad but Alê, Velaar and Lumi held me by the sleeve. 

The monster looked at me. I hoped that if I spoke slow enough and with an accent neutral enough he could understand some of what I said. Because for some reason, archaic had gone in the far back of my mind and I could not bring myself to remember it.

 _"Where is who?"_ The goblin sounded like a snake ready to bite.

If he did not know, he did not need to know. If Será was not there to help me, then I would have to think like her… What would she do?

Better yet, what had we done all the other times? Music, I sang a song, my guitar was still there, okay. I felt hesitant because I knew this plan always led to pain on my side. But I had no other option.

"Where is your good sense in music?" Changing the subject with subtlety, Será would stan.

 _"Hm? Que está a causar esso gaiato?_ ” 

Something about not understanding me. Oh yes, I had to use archaic.

I turned to my friends and made a sign, they already knew we were doing a repeat of our grand plan.

 _“Oh, my liege, you should hear their songs, believe me.”_ Velaar bowed and Alê made a face.

“Did you really have to bow down to him, though? I think that’s a bit of an overkill.” She grumbled in Polistan. 

“Shh… it’s for dramatic effect.” She answered, giving a slight slap on Alê’s shoulder.

 _"W_ _hy are you bowing down to this! I knew you were traitors!”_ Thorin belted indignantly.

All the dwarves roared as they usually did at this point. I ignored them.

I looked at the company, who looked at me suspiciously. “I have a… well, I have a plan.” I assured them in Modern, hoping maybe Bilbo would get it, but to my surprise Thorin's eyes went wide and I could tell he understood. 

Well, or maybe I just hoped he did, because he nodded at me.

 _"Do you want to hear actual music?"_ I begged that fortune and luck was on my side.

 _"Music?"_ That seemed to interest him as always.

It was good to know that some things never changed.

_"Give me back my guitar and I will play music."_

_"What_ _is a guitar?"_

 _"Eu mostrar vus_." I’ll show you.

The goblin king laughed loudly, the sound was horrifying, like metal scraping against metal, it was the sound of swords when they got acquainted in a bloody duel. His voice made me think of war and it echoed through the walls of goblin town.

 _"Cranho que non puod’axer nada per cumprir vousso desexo. Música non m’interessa como ũa bona torturaxinya.”_ He preferred some itsy-bitsy torture (his words, not mine) over music, which was not that surprising to be honest.

I shivered a bit. This sentence never came with good things. 

The goblin king gestured for two smaller goblins to take me and I knew what would follow. They made me kneel in front of the huge blob of skin, fat and stink. He grabbed me by my braids, to which I screamed out of the searing pain in my scalp. I could feel my skin burning and tears started streaming down my face as a reflex of the physical pain. 

I always hoped it would not hurt as much but it always did. 

“ _Now_ , _sing.”_ He laughed at my pain.

I sewed my mouth shut and gritted my teeth. The King got unnerved with my display and shook me, demanding for me to sing. For him, a bit of crying was just as nice as music. 

No need to scream, the pain is not real, this world is not real, it is but a figment of your imagination, I thought as a mantra to make me go through it.

“I think you and I don’t have the same definition of singing, buddy.”

He approached his face to mine, studying me curiously. Mind you, I never had a very refined olfactory sense, but I was sure I could faint from the smell he exhaled every time he opened his mouth. A massacre definitely had happened inside that goblin’s mouth.

“I will sing for you.” I told him, “But you have to _let go of my hair.”_ I only knew that thanks to my conviviality with Fíli and Kíli and mentally I thanked them for being bickering children. 

He frowned and did so. I felt that my legs were going numb from the scare I had just gone through, so Alê went and held me before I fell.

 _"You explain to me. What are elves doing among dwarves? And what are these?”_ He noticed for the first time the whole group. He eyed the two hobbits intensely. _“Are these children? I love the taste of them."_

I think I would have preferred the version where we did not have to face the goblins. 

We made a deal, if the goblin liked us singing he would let us go. We knew he would not actually abide by his own words.

“Okay… I really need my guitar, though.” I insisted.

Velaar told the goblin something and he nodded, giving me my bag.

I took my guitar out and looked around. “I need to tune it.” 

I needed to sing a bloody tale to interest them, but I was so done repeating the same thing. I tried my best at an archaic song. And soon something came up.

> **“Tonight, mommy went away**
> 
> **And daddy went out to pray.**
> 
> **Beware if you don't sleep tight,**
> 
> **When Mommy is out tonight**
> 
> **For he is baby-cruncher, the fey.**
> 
> **If home alone you stay,**
> 
> **Then he’ll be on his way.**
> 
> **So sleep well my darling**
> 
> **‘Cause the night is starting**
> 
> **And he is baby-cruncher, the fey.**
> 
> **If you don’t want to be his prey,**
> 
> **Then you better in silence lay.**
> 
> **But honey, I’m coming**
> 
> **A happy tune humming.**
> 
> **'Cause I’m baby-cruncher, the fey.”**

It was not the worst song I had sang but it was horrible enough that the goblins had the desired reaction. I looked around for a familiar pointy hat, when I found it I sighed in relief. I knew how to keep them distracted. I waited for Fíli to do his thing and give me the knife, he did. So Thorin had really understood me at that moment. I was glad.

_“Another! Another!”_

So we made another deal that he needed to give us our bags first, he did. Rookie mistake. I sang another bloody tale now that I knew they did not like stories. Those were unrefined beasts after all.

It was then that the dwarves started a surprise attack, in the middle of my song. How rude. I put my guitar in my bag and took out the knife Fíli had given me. Okay, I could do this. 

This might not be an ax but you can totally use it, I thought, for Será.

I needed to get out of there to find her. I was already making up plans in my head: I would take the ring, use it to explore the caves and goblin town so I could find my sister. That was final and I decided it was best to not disclose it to anybody.

We were having a hard time pushing the goblins back. I often asked myself why in the world did it take Gandalf so long to intervene. He was probably watching this and having a blast, finding it very entertaining. Maybe he was waiting for the right moment to make his entrance more dramatic. Whatever the reason was, it would not have surprised me. 

Only when we were almost falling from being pushed back, did he make his entrance with a huge explosion of light.

"Fight!" He yelled. "Fight!"

"Are you serious right now?" I had to ask.

He did blind all of us with all that light, after all. 

* * *

✵

## Será

Será woke up in a very dark cave, she had no idea where she was or how she was even alive in the first place. She shook her head, it was not the time for that, she needed light, now. She tried taking her bag, but it was not on her anymore. She went looking for it, touching the ground, that was when she felt something smooth and small under her fingers. It was dark and she could not see much, but for some reason it felt important, so she placed it in her back pocket, thankful that she had asked the elves in Rivendell to add so many pockets to her pants. Her clothes were all torn from the fall, but she was glad to see that her pockets were still in one piece.

She proceeded to look for her bag in a panicked speed. Maybe she was scared of the dark, maybe she did not like being in a cave and not knowing the way out. That was when she heard a noise. It was close by. Something was getting nearer. God damn it! She thought angrily, patting the ground harder, as if it would change a thing. 

The sound of small pebbles falling and moving were an indication that whatever it was, it had found her and she was still unable to see. 

Suddenly her vision became even more twisted and she felt light headed as a strong pain took hold of her at the back of her head, then again, another hit. She turned around, still dizzy, but she swore that if she did not die from the fall, she would not die before making her way out. She gathered all her strength and held the creature down.

“What the hell are you?!” She screamed as she shifted, coming on top of whatever it was and successfully neutralizing it. 

Or so she thought, because then she received another hit on her cheeks, but she held on tight until the creature seemed to have calmed down and stopped wailing. She patted the area with one hand as she held the thing with her other hand, she felt it trying to bite her, so she was looking for a rock to hit it with. It was then that she found her bag. She fumbled with it for a bit which gave time for the creature to escape from her grasp. When the fourth hit was going to be made against her, she found her lamp and turned it on the thing’s face. It immediately fell on the floor whimpering.

“ _Queimassas los olhossos! Queimassas los olhossos!”_

Burned the eyes. It suited him well. Será found something she had forgotten she had brought, a pepper spray. Thank God for that ruin back home being full of creeps! She aimed the spray his way, but she could not see very clearly, everything was blurry and came in double. So that was what a concussion felt like, nice. To be honest though, she hoped she would never have to go through this again. 

“You! Hm… Vus!” Right, that was not the best time for daydreaming, she needed to survive first.

Stay alive, find the exit. This thing would know the exit, convince it not to kill you and get out. She could do that, obviously. 

_“Vus…_ know? How do I say this? Oh, _Saeis!_ … _Saeis s_ _ _a_ yda_, exit!” She threatened him with the spray again. 

The thing had hidden behind a rock, because it thought it could hide well, was it a game? Será used to like games like hide and seek.

_“Leave!”_

_What on Earth? How was he speaking modern?_ Or was she just understanding archaic? Maybe it was the same word. 

_“Vus_ go fuck right in _vus_ ass, you son of a bitch!” She yelled. “Lead me out, or you will find out what really burns!” 

She needed to follow thoroughly the plan they had made in case another one of them fell in the pit. She could not remember it properly, though.

_“She is strange… Gollum! Gollum! Speaks a weird language too!”_

_“I’ll burn you if you don't show the way out”_ She had no idea if any of that was right, but she was not sure of much, disoriented as she was. 

_“Don’t want to.”_ Gollum smirked, acting like he was the one who held the power.

He did, but he did not need to know that.

 _“What a shame. Now get out of there. I have powers, I can even make your ears burn!”_ She then went looking for her phone while still holding her lamp and put her pepper spray in her back pocket. 

She took out her phone, feeling grateful that it still worked and that she thought of taking a charger that recharged with the sun. She prayed that her sibling had used her phone recently and downloaded their horrible music. They had, in fact, they had downloaded a full metal playlist. She pressed play and the song started extremely high. Gollum started wailing again, begging for her to stop.

“I will stop if you take me _out of this place_. Or else, this is only the beginning.” She was going to faint any minute, she just had to hang on and be out, then she would probably die from her injuries. 

_“I _h_ ungry, we needs to eat you whole _ _!”_ Gollum yelled.

“If you lead me out of here, I will give you a piece of lembas, that should be enough.”

 _“ _No_! Lembas no!” _ He then kept rambling about something, but Será did not follow.

 _“ _I h_ ave other food _.”

Well, she had crisps, but it was considered food, right? It did not have that many nutritious qualities but it was technically edible, so not a lie there. She stopped the music and the thing calmed down once again. She was careful to keep an eye out for Gollum, then she put her phone back and opened a bag of crisps, she threw it in Gollum's general direction.

“Food.” She knew it was the same word in archaic so she did not fret too much over it. 

She saw Gollum’s hand making its appearance from behind the rock and reaching for the package. He took it fast and soon a munching sound could be heard.

“Do you like it?” 

There was no answer, but the hand made a second appearance and gestured for more. 

_“You lead me out and I give more.”_

Gollum seemed to have a small discussion with himself, then he lifted his head from the rock with narrowed eyes because of the light on his face. She decided to lower it a bit, taking pity on him. 

_“We takes you. But you gives more food.”_

Amazingly enough, Gollum was smart and visibly understood that as long as he kept his message simple, she would probably get it.

_“I will give you food. But I need to be out.”_

Gollum nodded and gestured for her to follow. She did not even question it, she just followed, trusting him. What a dumb person she had become. After some minutes walking, he turned around and tried attacking her again and with her dizziness still present, he succeeded easily. However, he did not aim for her, but rather for her bag. She instinctively held it tight, so when he tried taking it, the bag did not even budge. She then took her spray out of fear and used it, making the thing scream and throw itself on the ground.

“BURNS! BURNS!” He howled.

He ran in her direction, furious, ready to bite her, though she could tell he did not know exactly where she was. He did not need his eyes as much as she had thought. Years living in the dark made him very adaptable. So she did the first thing that popped in her mind, she ran.

She ran and ran, but her dizziness made it hard for her to actually take some speed and she kept tripping on rocks. Plus the light she was carrying made her way too easy to spot. She knew he was right behind her which only caused her to panic more. She finally found a corner to hide and turned off the light, getting in fast. She was trying to calm her heart and her breath. 

Her pants were falling, so she fixed them, but then she felt something in her pocket as her hand accidentally brushed it. It was the weird thing she had found earlier. She knew it was a bad idea to look at it at that moment, but she could not think straight for the life of her. She held the thing close to her face, it was a ring. Its weight was almost soothing in a way. The feeling of it against her palm was quite nice as well. She heard someone calling her, was it the ring? She then slipped it on her finger. It was very beautiful. Strange, she did not like jewelry that much, but it did look nice on her. 

The loud voice of the Gollum woke her up from her reverie. She had to be on the move. She stood up, brushing some of the dirt out of her and went for it. She could see slightly better now that her eyes had gotten used to the darkness. 

She took a turn and came right in front of Gollum. He looked around, but he did not seem to see her. He raged and stomped but then he made a scary face, the face of realisation. He reached for a hidden pocket in his loincloth and riffled through it. When he could not find whatever he was looking for, he looked around with panicked eyes.

“Thief!” He screamed. “Thief!” 

In all honesty Será did not know what was going on, but her gut told her to follow the creature. Some minutes later she saw some natural light. Her heart shook with joy when she saw bits of sun beams. She went around Gollum and reached for the exit. 

Looking at the creature she felt some pity, so she took her backpack and took all her bags of crisps out, throwing them at his feet.

“Thank you.” She then made her way out.

The world had a strange look once she was out under the sun. Everything looked more twisted than she remembered it being. Then there was the voice, she had not really paid a mind to it, but right after she wore the ring something had started talking to her, whispering nonsensical things. She stared at the ring and she felt fear. Something was very wrong with it. She took it off and everything went back to normal, apart from her dizziness. She analyzed the outdoors as if it was the first time she ever saw the sky. 

Someone was screaming not too far from where she stood, but it was not the Gollum.

“Is that Barvo?”

She approached and yes, it was her sibling. The people looked at her a bit shocked when she got close and they saw her.

“Barvo? Oh my God, can you stop? You are embarrassing me and I can’t pretend I don’t know you here.” 

* * *

✵✵

## Barvo

We started fighting our way out. But I found myself wishing I could stay at the back of my mind, I still had hope I would find my sister there. 

As we made our way out, I could see Lumi and Bilbo struggling to keep up with the others, and so Velaar and Alê came to their rescue, holding one of their hands as they kept hitting goblins with their swords. Honestly, I could not understand what was going for the life of me. I saw a goblin, I hit it. I did not need to think more than that. We fought for hours, though I had no way to tell how many. First because time was a blurry thing to me, second because we were inside a cave fighting goblins. 

The next thing I knew, the huge goblin was in front of us making one of these villains’ speeches. Gandalf sliced his… something. Then, I recall falling. What was with us and all the falling? Será would have found that thought amusing.

We fell and then the goblin fell on top of us. That was just our luck.

I looked up and Alê and Velaar looked fine, perfectly fine, standing and far from the goblin king’s corpse. They practically looked like they had not made any effort during the fight. 

“Can you guys lend us a hand, please?” Lumi held out her hand.

We soon were all running out of the cave. My eyes burned as I saw the sun. Once we were out, we stopped to breathe. 

“Oh my God we did it.” Lumi looked at us eyes wide. “But we don’t have the…” She gestured to her finger. “Where is Será?” She looked around.

Everything came crashing down, Será had fallen and I did not stop it. I fell on my knees and I threw my bag down.

“I saw her falling.” I whispered. “She fell and I don’t know where.”

The dwarves looked very uncomfortable as I wept for my sister. My friends came all around me and gave me a hug. It was our last chance and she was gone forever. No, it could not be. I knew my sister, she was fine.

“Thorin said we have to go, the sun will be setting in a few hours and this valley will be filled with Goblins.” Lumi informed me.

I had not even heard Thorin speak. Someone tried to make me stand, but I fell back down on the ground. 

“I am not going without her.” I said through gritted teeth. “And anyone, anyone who doesn’t believe she is still alive doesn’t know my sister!” I growled and hissed because they had no right.

The person stopped trying to make me stand up, but then someone stronger came and lifted me off the ground.

“You fucking release me, you son of a bitch.” I struggled and almost fell from their arms but they held firmer. “Listen here you motherfucker, my sister is going to come out of these mountains anytime, just you wait! If you want to go, fine! Then go, but leave me here!” I kicked again. 

“Barvo? Oh my God, can you stop? You are embarrassing me and I can’t pretend I don’t know you here.” 

I immediately stopped kicking and the person let me down. It was Dwalin who had been holding me, but I could not care less because there Será stood in all of her glory. I kept looking at her with wide eyes.

“Bitch, you scared the shit out of me!” I screamed (to which she grimaced) and then I launched myself at her.

“I swear to God I thought you were dead.” Lumi joined in the hug. “God, you look awful.”

Alê and Velaar soon were also wrapped around Será. Alê laughed and patted her shoulder.

“Never doubted your ability to appear out of nowhere."

"Can you guys please let me go?" Será’s voice sounded like a plea, something was wrong.

We let her go and took some steps back. She did look awful, her face was splattered in blood and she looked greenish, ready to faint.

 _"_ _We have to go."_ Thorin went up. He then looked up and down at Será and narrowed his eyes. " _How did you leave?"_

"How did you escape." Velaar translated when she saw the confused face Será made.

I looked at her, that was a great question. I then noticed her slipping a golden thing in her breast pocket. Oh no, I had completely forgotten about that ring.

"Let's just say I got very lucky." She said slowly, way too slowly, not even giving a try in Archaic.

She was looking more and more tired every minute that went by.

“ _Why did you come back?”_ Thorin knew she was not the most enthusiastic about the whole thing. 

“Because my sibling believes in you and I decided to do too.” She slurred, she almost sounded drunk.

There was a long, piercing howl that made everybody turn their heads to where the noise had come from.

 _"We have to go."_ After the third time Thorin said it, I finally got what he meant. 

I guess he had a point. But before we could actually obey, Será fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Será is very disoriented and kind of does the first thing that comes up her mind. She also noticeably forgets what the ring was, probably because it wasn’t at the top of her priorities. Her first instinct is to survive. 
> 
> If you are curious to know: Maybe you noticed that Será doesn’t seem very phased by the whole ‘I’m gonna die thing’ as opposed to everybody else, it's because she doesn’t feel as drained as the others do. They are all affected by it differently.


	9. Part 2 of chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A load of angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, it's just literally the rest of chapter 8.

## Bilbo

"Out of the frying pan..."

"And into the fire."

Bilbo felt panic rising as he looked at Será, who had fainted. He had been thinking about it and maybe he was regretting his decision of helping the newcomers, mostly because Será had gotten hurt. He should not have indulged their adventurousness. Because now Será was sporting head injuries and they could not look into it because they had no time. If only Bilbo had convinced them to stay in Rivendell the way his heart had told him to, maybe she would have been fine.

To say things went complicated to messed up would be a very nice way to put it. Bilbo shuddered at the sight of wargs coming at them. Será had fainted and so Dwalin took her over his shoulder, she was much larger than him which limited his movements. They went running like that anyway. The wargs were gaining distance on them, it was then that he made his first kill. In goblin town, Alê had done all of that for him, protecting him and stopping him from killing anything. Alê was too busy keeping the wargs out of Dwalin’s shoes. So when the enormous creature went up on him, he simply brandished his sword to defend himself, slashing his sword on its throat. Blood spilled all over him, but they had no time to worry about that. 

"Up, on the trees!” Gandalf ordered.

Lumi took his hand and led him toward a tree. It was their only choice to be safe. He saw Barvo help Dwalin carry Será as he climbed another tree, barely escaping the sharp teeth of yet another warg. Bilbo’s instinct told him to check on the young, when he spotted all of them, he let himself relax marginally. They were being chased down, after all.

He felt a hand on his and he did not like the sight he was greeted with. Lumi was looking at him, her eyes carried a sadness no child should bear. They were gleaming with unshed tears.

"Bilbo, if we die, I just wanted to thank you for teaching me about the hobbits, they were great lessons." 

"I was honored to teach you." He looked at her with tearful eyes. 

I'm sorry we could never share second breakfasts, elevenses, afternoon teas or suppers, he thought regretfully. 

They smiled at each other despite everything. He always hoped for the best, but he knew they were doomed. There was no way out. 

Then, just to make things merrier, a huge pale orc approached riding an albino warg. 

"Azog. It cannot be." He heard Thorin mutter.

* * *

✵

## Lumi

They were not able to stop the goblin from telling Azog of their whereabouts yet again, what a waste of a turn. His presence often railed her up. This was supposed to be historically incorrect, right? Then again, archaeology showed that Bilbo had gotten some things wrong when he wrote in the Red Book. Maybe he just could not differentiate one orc from another. He was living through things he had never experienced before, it was expected that some of the things he wrote would be incorrect. 

With one single command from their leader, the wargs ran straight at them, trying to get a bite as they climbed higher on the trees. Lumi prayed that Dwalin would be able to hold on to Será without falling. The weight of the wargs made the tree fall. They jumped from their tree to another. This was way scarier in real life than in a book or in a movie. She resented all the times she watched it and read it and was just slightly moved. Now she knew what it actually felt like. 

And so they were forced to jump from tree to tree, so on so forth they came to the point where there were no more trees for them to jump. Right behind them was a cliff and the wargs kept trying to make the last tree fall. They soon were going to be reacquainted with the grim reaper. Maybe things would go better on the next loop. Maybe it was not their last time as some thought it was. She looked over at Será, she was still unconscious and Dwalin was holding her tight, making sure he would not lose his grasp on her. Out of nowhere Gandalf threw a flaming thing at her. 

“Fíli! Lumi!” He called.

Next thing she knew there was a pine cone on fire on her hands. She turned to Bilbo who held a pine cone as well. He approached it from hers to set it on fire, then they both threw it on their attackers. They started cheering when the tree fell over, dangling on the cliff. 

Rookie mistake, Lumi, you should know better than to chant victory too soon, she chastised.

Her heart was being crushed by anxiety and she had not been ready for the feelings, there was too much happening... They would all die. She heard Ori screaming, he was holding on Dori’s feet, she felt her stomach dropping. She could not find her friends other than Será, which was not a good thing. Then another scream and Dori had almost fallen off as well.

Everything was fine.

 _"Don't!"_ Kíli screamed. 

Thorin was making his way toward the huge orc, he ran. But everything looked last majestic without music playing in the background and slow motion. He held his shield made of oak. He tried to fight but just as all of the other times she had witnessed, he fell with his shield before he could land a hit. To put it simply, he was getting a beating. 

When Thorin got bitten, she looked at her side, Bilbo was already making his way toward him. Lumi’s attention went back to the blood gushing out of the bite mark that covered Thorin’s chest and she made a decision, she held Bilbo’s sleeve and stopped him from going.

 _“Thorin!”_ Dwalin screamed but there was not much he could do, holding Será in his arms.

It was bad, but Thorin would live, probably. Alê had not, but the warg had bitten her on the leg artery. As long as Bilbo went to rescue him, she realised, as long as he rescued him, then Thorin would survive. Lumi looked at Bilbo, who gave her pleading eyes. She knew she had to let him go. But she did not want to. She held his hand and shook her head.

_"Don't, Bilbo."_

He at least had the decency of looking apologetic when he pulled his hand out of hers.

 _"I am sorry, but I need to do this, no one else can reach him."_ He then went to do as he was fated to.

Lumi inhaled, if Bilbo was going, then so was she. She swept her fear and anxiety away and took hold of one of her short swords climbing up with some effort. She got on her feet in time to see Bilbo launching at an orc who was trying to behead Thorin. He looked like a honey badger, a wee animal filled with rage and fearlessness. She then took out her other small sword from her scabbard and went to Bilbo's side to cover for him.

_"Bilbo, don't go alone."_

He nodded at her then looked back at the wargs and the big orcs approaching them. She threatened stabbing Azog when he got a bit too close from Bilbo for her liking. There was a loud cry, a war cry and Fíli and Kíli came rushing toward any orc they could hit, they were followed by Velaar and Alê. Lumi smiled and followed their lead, if this was how they were going to go, then they better give these orcs a good fight before dying. Ugh, she almost sounded like Barvo. 

She hit an orc and took out the sword that got stuck in his chest. This never ceased to gross her out. She searched for Bilbo with her eyes and saw Azog aiming at him. She could not reach for him, there was no time. 

A piercing sound came from the sky, she looked up and there they were. The eagles. Honestly, why could they not come sooner? They always came in the last minute. Were they trying to make a big entrance or something? 

She stayed there, staring as they took most of the orcs down. Lumi was sure she had been mistaken for an orc when the eagles approached her, she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the pain, but nothing came. They took her gently off the ground then dropped her on another one’s back, she looked at her side and there was Bilbo.

She felt tears spilling and hugged him, and so did he. He patted her head and soothed her. It was over for now. They still had so much to do, but they were safe. They would be fine. 

The eagles landed, Será and Thorin were dropped side by side. Dwalin came up to them, as Gandalf did his magic shenanigans. 

Thorin woke up, _"The halflings_?”

 _“We are fine and we aren’t half of anything, just so you know.”_ Lumi grumbled. 

Thorin got up and approached them, he made a speech to which Lumi did not pay attention. She was more worried about the elf who was lying still unconscious on the ground. He hugged Bilbo and went for Lumi, but she took some steps back, she needed to focus. She did not need thankful hugs from someone who did not seem to care that her friend was severely injured.

 _“Será.”_ Was all she said as she pointed at her.

Será was surrounded by Barvo and Alê. Óin was checking on her head injuries.

 _“I am sorry.”_ Thorin and Bilbo told her and she nodded.

 _“Let me.”_ Gandalf scurried everyone who was close to Será. He did the same thing he had done to Thorin, Será opened her eyes and groaned.

“Why do you guys have three heads? And why are there huge eagles looking at us?” She then sat up and gestured for someone to help her, Kíli went to her rescue faster than anyone else and gently pulled her upwards.

 _“How are you feeling?”_ He looked her up and down. 

“Where is Barvo? God, is this what a hangover feels like?” 

Barvo finally came back to their senses and went running to their sister and hugged her. They then took a step back and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and Barvo took a paper tissue out of their bag and laid it out open on their hand, she reluctantly put something golden in it.

 _So she found the Ring_ , Lumi thought and shivered, _I wonder what she had to face to get it._

Barvo folded the tissue around it extremely fast, they looked scared of the thing. Then they walked out, still holding the tissue and went to Bilbo. Thorin seemed to see it and his eyes filled with sorrow, they all knew what was going to happen in that moment and they all grieved in silence for the burden Bilbo would now have to carry.

Barvo gave it to him and told him something, he unfolded the tissue and frowned then shook his head. Lumi had to intervene.

 _“Keep it, you will need it.”_ She assured him.

__"I was not the one to find it."_ _

_“Maybe, but you are fated to it. Believe me."_ She closed his hand around the Ring. “ _Just trust me on this.”_

He nodded and put it in his breast pocket. He sighed and looked at the horizon, Thorin approached him and stood by his side.

 _“Is that...?”_ He looked at him.

 _“Yes, it’s the Lonely Mountain.”_ Thorin smiled sadly.

Onward, and to adventure! Lumi thought with some irony. It had first been her decision to help a bunch of crazed dwarves after all. Maybe she deserved the pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And good news for y'all, next chap will have some Thilbo interaction ^^


	10. The pain of being clueless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of weird stuff happen at Beorn’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to add Thilbo in my story, finally! 
> 
> This chapter was very pleasant to write, btw. 
> 
> Another thing, maybe you guys will notice in this chapter a few mistakes the foreigners make and get why they had to come back so many times.

## Dwalin

It was a miracle Será had made it that far and walked out of the mountains alive on her own, in the state she was. She was not the same after her injuries. Her mind was not as sharp and she had a harder time understanding Westron, although whatever she had experienced had scarred her more than just physically. She had become terribly skittish. It was not appropriate for her age to be this fearful. She was also more distracted. Fortunately for her, she was relieved from lookout duty. Maybe the fact that they had to take a break from training would help her heal faster. 

Dwalin did not want to admit it, but he had to take care of a brain-damaged child and it scared him. When he had asked, Óin told him she would be fine. He had no need to worry, her swelling had gone a bit down with the help of ointments he had applied on her. He told him that once it had gone away completely, which it would (he reassured Dwalin), she would just need a bit of time before her mind came back to what it was. She would be fine, Dwalin just had to keep her alive and she would heal.

He was feeling particularly protective of everyone after what happened on the Misty Mountains. The princes found it amusing, Barvo did not care, Velaar and Lumi seemed to find it endearing, Será did not notice and Kianda constantly told him to stop fussing over her and the others, they were fine. Fine his ass, Será had almost died and he had seen how they had braved into battle and risked their lives. He knew that was what warriors did, but he did not have to like it.

Bilbo and Kianda were on lookout that night. At least he knew he could trust those elven eyes to catch any orc that came their way.

Kianda was no elf, though. She sure looked like one and had some elvish qualities but she did not act like one, neither did Será or Velaar, they all acted very human. Dwalin was one of the few who truly believed they had been humans at some point and were turned into something else. How else was he to explain the blooming friendship between him and his pupils? If they truly were elves such a friendship would not have been possible.

When it came to Barvo and Lumi, Dwalin was not sure. But that would have explained why Barvo often called Será ‘sister’, maybe it was just a manner of speech from where they came, maybe it meant something else in their language, or they were actually siblings by blood. Dwalin did not know and he had never had the chance to ask.

"There are some wargs coming our way, we have to move." Bilbo came to him.

They both worriedly turned their heads to Será who was playing with the grass. 

"I'll take her." Dwalin told Bilbo and he nodded. 

"But you know that Barvo can do it, right? They seem very close…"

"I know, but they aren't strong enough. And of course they look close, they are siblings." To be honest he just wanted to make sure she was fine and maybe, just maybe, he did not trust a nineteen year old dwarf with the job. 

It was nothing personal, really, but youth tended to be foolish and he did not feel like gambling with their lives at the moment. 

Bilbo raised his brows “Well they call each other like that, but they are not actually..."

"Don't overthink it." Was the only thing he could tell Bilbo.

He took his ax and walked over Será.

"Come on." He offered her his hand, it took her some time to notice it and take it.

Kíli was looking with much interest as Dwalin helped her up. Ever since the giants, Kíli had been trying to form a friendship with her, although Dwalin was almost certain it was out of pity. Será did not care, or at least she did not notice it. She was not herself these days. Once she was up, Kíli actually went to them and helped hold her by her other side. Where were her companions? He thought.

She could walk, at least that was what she claimed, but she could not walk for a long time and her pace was not fast enough. 

Barvo had started to stray further away from their sister, Dwalin noticed. But they never stopped lending her a hand, he never missed them taking their sister's bag, which was much larger than theirs, and carrying it. Heh, whatever caused it, they would solve it on their own. Dwalin did not worry. 

They had set camp not too long ago and they already had to pack their things again, this was happening every night. They camped, they slept for about two hours then the orcs would find them. They had resorted to eating cold food because lighting a fire was out of the question. They were all exhausted. 

Thorin went up to the few that were able to actually fall asleep and kicked them awake. 

"You heard the halfling, get up, we have to go. We don't need a repeat of last week."

"Not half of anything…" Mumbled Lumi as she slowly woke.

They all shuddered. Last week had been that horrible night, the only good thing that happened was that the eagles had brought them food to roast and they had one safe night with no need for a lookout. Barvo had brought a handful of greens they found and ate in silence. The lad did not eat meat, he saw them eating fish but other than that they ate nothing else. The eagles took notice and Barvo explained their situation, assuring them they were fine. They were a pescatarian they answered them. 

Whatever it was called, they needed to stop, this was going to get them killed. If Dwalin was as picky he would have died by now. 

"Where are we supposed to go? The lass can't keep up, we need to take shelter somewhere." Dori frowned. 

He was not wrong, they needed to find a roof for them to settle for a while. 

"I have a friend who lives close by… he might take us in, but we are too numerous. I shall go first and warn him of our coming, but you need to come in pairs, wait five minutes, send the first pair, then wait five more to send the next and so on so forth." Gandalf looked at them meaningfully.

"What are you waiting for?” Thorin called them. 

They followed Gandalf through land and crossed a small stream, the landscape was filled with an emerald and golden glow that Dwalin used to believe only jewels could have. After they lost Erebor, he started to understand the appreciation for corn fields and flowers. Although he could not see the appeal of trees and forests yet, he saw the beauty in nature. After all, minerals and stones were the very product of it.

"Wait here, I will take Thorin with me if you don't mind." He smiled.

Dwalin looked at Fíli while he stared at Será. Soon he would probably follow his brother's lead and try to befriend her too. He just happened to be more stubborn than Kíli. Dwalin scoffed, he was glad he understood they were humans despite what they looked like. Else, he would have missed out on decent people.

"Kíli, go stand with Fíli, I'll hold her." He nodded and went there.

Será made a noise of discontentment.

"I can stand on my own." She told him slowly.

Dwalin disagreed, after their long walk she looked very tired but he conceded letting go of her if she agreed to sit. However, he decided he was not leaving her on her own. Someone pretended to cough beside him, trying to get his attention, he turned around and there was Barvo. Velaar and Alê were right behind them.

"What is it?"

"I can stay with my sister. Velaar and Alê also offered to help." (Or a butchered version of it) Barvo offered.

Dwalin sighed then nodded, it was best not to get involved in this kind of thing.

"Be nice." He advised and went to his brother.

"You have a soft spot for them." Balin teased him.

"You know what? I'm going to talk to Bifur."

It seemed like he had focused so much on keeping the foreigners alive that he had drifted a bit from the company, he had to change that. He sought Bifur's company and sat on the ground between Bofur and Nori, waiting. He had expected for him to be with Bofur and Bombour but then he saw Bombour talking to Bilbo about a recipe or something. He sat in front of them and started plucking some grass.

 _"Is_ _the lass okay?_ _"_ Bifur signed when Dwalin sat down. 

"The real question is if she **is** going to be okay, right Dwalin?" Nori answered. 

"Stop with that, Dwalin cares for her. We don't want him grumpy all day. Things will be okay, don't worry mate." Bofur patted his knee.

Dwalin nodded. "And I don't care, I just don't want young people dying in my hands. I have known them for barely three weeks."

"Ya could’ve known them for two days and still grown attached, emotions were high after all. You know how extreme situations make a bond grow stronger. Nah, I think ya do care, you're just too scared to admit your own feelings because of toxic masculinity." Nori stretched and yawned. 

"What was that? Toxic masculinity?" 

"I dae ken but I heard Alê saying something about it."

"Kianda? You understand their language?!" He always took Nori for a good-for-nothing fool.

Maybe he had misjudged him.

"If you listen enough to it you can pick the words and guess." He laughed. 

Maybe he was more intelligent than he gave off. 

"Does anyone else in here understand what they are saying?!"

Bofur and Bifur raised their hands.

"I think Ori and Bilbo do too." Nori scratched his beard. “Sometimes Thorin seems to get it. Kíli was trying to properly learn it and I think that’s it.”

Dwalin suddenly noticed Nori's beard was magnificent, and how his braid patterns were very intricate and well woven, it was quite impressive. He digressed and shook his head, that was strange.

"I don't understand, I spend the most time with them, how come I don't understand it?"

 _"I don't think they do a lot of talking during training sessions…"_ Bifur commented. 

"Aye, that could be it!" Nori nodded enthusiastically, he clicked his tongue and then fingers, pointing at Bifur. 

What was that?

"Five minutes are up.” He decided to ignore the gesture. “The first pair can go." Dwalin looked around and signalled for Fíli and Kíli to go.

“But anyway, what were you saying about ‘toxic masculinity'?” He turned back to the trio.

That was when he was introduced to ‘woke society’ for the first time.

* * *

✵

## Thorin

Gandalf told the huge man their tale and the story of the time travelers that had yet to prove themselves. As he told the story, pair after pair of dwarves came in, Thorin was hoping he would accept keeping them all. They did not even need to all have beds, they just needed a roof and some food. He could only wish for that.

When they all came in, Beorn (it was the giant’s name) accepted their stay, he felt sympathy for them and he also pitied the injured elf. Beorn had taken Bilbo and Lumi to his liking, calling them small rabbits and feeding them as much food as he could.

That first night Gandalf left them and told them not to leave at night. When the night time came, Thorin decided to lay beside Bilbo, he did not trust Beorn and he felt like he owed him at least a bit of protection. He was carrying the ring after all, so technically he was caring for the whole world by caring for Bilbo, so he should not feel guilty about it. 

Thorin truly slept for the first time in ages, but he was woken up in the middle of the night by Bilbo.

“Thorin, where is Lumi?” He seemed shaken.

“What is it, Bilbo?” He sat up a bit to look at him. “I think she is with her companions…”

“Nothing, I just wondered. She usually sleeps by my side and I got worried.”

“You worry for her?” He raised a brow.

“Well, she is but a child.”

“And that is why you woke me up in the middle of the night?” Thorin tried to hold a smile, he could tell the burglar was lying.

“I-I heard a howling.” Bilbo got so red that Thorin could easily see it in the night.

“Well, we are safe here, so don’t worry.” He laid down again, pulling the sheets on top of him and turning over, ending the discussion.

“T-Thorin, may I tell you something?”

Or so he thought.

Thorin wanted to say no, he should say no, because they had to get as much sleep as they could. But for some reason, maybe it was because of the guilt over how rude he had been to Bilbo since their very first meeting. He did not know, but he turned over and nodded.

“My mother died in a very cold winter, she was killed by wolves…” He let out a deep breath. “Now a simple howling is enough to scare me.”

He never expected to hear such a revelation. He wanted to ask more about it, but Bilbo seemed ‘emotionally drained’ (as the time-travelers used to say when they complained about their training sessions) and he did not want to prod.

“It’s okay, everybody fears something, Bilbo. But now we should probably get some sleep.”

He nodded and gazed at Thorin.

“What is it?” He felt slightly irritated at the blatant staring.

“Nothing.” He said before shifting and turning his back on Thorin.

Thorin only shook that thought away. It was not until morning came that he realised he had used the Burglar’s first name for the very first time.

For some reason that made him feel awkward when he saw Bilbo waking up beside him, he did not want to apologise but he knew he had to. After all, the hobbit only liked proper things and first names were not proper. He got up feeling groggy. Although they slept well, it did not make up for a week of exhaustive running. Both Bilbo and him made their way toward the kitchen in an awkward silence, Beorn was already there preparing something.

“Good morning, master dwarf and the small rabbit. Oh, you are looking quite unruly.” Beorn told him once he turned around to look at him.

“Well, it is the morning.” He tried fixing his hair but it was hard without a mirror.

“Do you want me to help you with that?” Bilbo asked hesitantly, he seemed so wary around Thorin this morning.

If he really thought about it, the hobbit was almost always wary of him.

“No, don’t worry about it, I’ll ask Fíli or Dwalin to fix it for me.” at that Bilbo's face dropped, maybe if he apologised it would cheer him up, he liked propriety, right? “Oh, and sorry.”

“Sorry? What for?” He seemed genuinely confused.

“For calling you by your first name, I know you like propriety.”

Thorin was looking at the ceiling, it was a nice ceiling, was it not? 

Bilbo let out a loud cackle. 

“Are you seriously worried about that? If that was the case, you should apologise for calling me a grocer, a burglar (albeit I am one, I still think it’s rude to call me that) and a halfling, I am not half anything. Oh, also for calling me a hobbit in a disgusted way. That is called racism.” Bilbo's face turned serious and he raised a brow, “Racism is when you discriminate against someone because of their race or perpetuate stereotypes of it, it is a crime in Lumi’s time.”

Did he really have such a big list of rude sayings? Did the halfー master Baggins not see that it was already paining him enough to apologise for the first name bit?

“I guess I have to apologise for that as well.” Thorin said through gritted teeth.

Why was apologising so hard? It hurt his pride and filled him with shame. He decided he did not like the feeling. But once he saw the stunned look master Baggins was giving him, it inflated his pride a bit.

“Did I just hear it right? Is Thorin Oakenshield apologising for something?” Balin came in asking, followed by two dishevelled brothers.

Kíli yawned, he looked sleepy and Fíli looked grumpy, they both stopped their conversation after hearing the ‘news’.

“Did you really, uncle?” Kíli widened his eyes.

“Don't act as if it was the first time it ever happened, I apologised at the Carrock.”

“Uh, no you didn’t” Bilbo shook his head.

“What are you talking about? Of course I did!” Thorin could not believe what he was hearing.

“Except you didn’t. You said you were wrong, which is different then apologising.”

Thorin felt his cheeks going red, he was not a dwarfling anymore for Eru’s sake!

“No matter, I did now, master Baggins.”

“I think it’s inappropriate…” Bilbo started.

“What do you mean? But that’s your name!” 

“For friends to call each other by their family names, Thorin. Call me Bilbo.” He smiled.

Thorin immediately closed his mouth.

“Oh, wow, wow, I think we should leave these two to talk to each other. So Beorn, will you show me how to bake that amazing bread you made yesterday?” Balin took both of the boys by their shoulders and left them a bit behind.

“Friends, are we?” Thorin raised his brows, he was probably blood red by then.

“If you wish to be.” Bilbo looked at his feet, he was as red as Thorin.

“Friends it is then.” Thorin smiled. “But oh, I’m so hungry, do you want to join me for breakfast?”

“I’m a hobbit, I never say no to food.”

“Isn’t it technically racism? ‘Racism is when you discriminate against someone because of their race or perpetuate stereotypes of it.’” He quoted, making Bilbo frown.

“Oh you…” Bilbo shook his head.

“But it is, isn’t it?” He smirked. 

Why was he smiling?

“I have no idea to be honest. I would have to ask Lumi...” Bilbo smiled back.

“Are you asking for advice from a child?” Thorin teased.

“She is a child but a wise child nonetheless so don’t you judge me.” Bilbo shook his finger at Thorin who laughed.

Seriously, what was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you hate on Thorin for taking racism so lightly, you have to remember that their society is almost completely based on it. Both Thorin and Bilbo don't fully grasp how damaging this kind of belief could be. Bilbo obviously doesn't like it but he doesn't understand it completely either. Plus, the explanation given by Lumi doesn't cover everything.
> 
> Btw, I love the idea that Beorn's house is the one place where they can have a calm moment and actually start talking things out.


	11. Words of an apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a lot of fighting and learning happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not a doctor and I don’t know a lot about head injuries, but I know someone who had a very bad one and so I used that as reference. Their case was much worse than Será’s though. But yeah, it’s defo not accurate at all, like, really.
> 
> Also this chapter is shorter but I really had a hard time writing it.

## Fíli

Fíli was angry and not just because the company had accepted elves in it. Kíli was seriously annoying him with his new attitude toward Será. It frustrated him to see how his brother was ready to trust and befriend an elf just like that. Did he not remember history? Had the past taught him nothing? He felt Kíli was being carried away from him in the river of life. But then again, Kíli had always traveled in her waters faster than Fíli. He had an easier time making friends, being the dork he was. He did not have a lot to worry about, he was not supposed to be king. His anchor was not as heavy as Fíli’s, to stop him from following the stream. His trust was something that came more easily, leaving Fíli to catch up with him on his own.

To add things up, Thorin had apologised. He always assumed it was not a kingly thing to do, he had never seen him actually doing it. If you did not count the times Thorin begged for his mother’s forgiveness, but lady Dís had that much power. It left him confused, apologising meant admitting you made a mistake, and kings never made those. 

He sat up and ate in silence, deeply in thought. 

After a while, Bilbo and Thorin joined them, sitting together. The tension between them was almost gone. Although Fíli did not agree with apologising, he was glad his uncle did. He liked Bilbo, Hell, he even admired him. Fíli never outwardly showed his disapproval of Thorin’s rough treatment, but he saw it and did not find it necessary. The shift in their relationship had been long overdue. Later in life, he would admit it was one of the few things he and the foreigners agreed on.

Later, Óin, Glóin, Nori, Dori and Dwalin sat with them. Then, Velaar and Alê came deep in conversation with Ori who was furiously scribbling something down. Fíli's sight darkened with that, almost the whole company had started acting as if the foreigners belonged and it unnerved him that they could act so nonchalantly about the whole situation. This was not a normal situation, their whole story was bonkers and Fíli had a well-kept list of reasons why not to trust them.

First, they had told them they only had basic skills with weapons and even in the training ground they acted uncomfortable holding a blade. Fíli had been sure it was the first time they ever handled such. However, when they were fighting the orcs, he could tell they were experienced warriors at the very least. The way they minded their steps and how they could see an opening in their enemies defense within seconds was a big tell. 

When the attack occurred, Dwalin was occupied in such a way that he was not able to properly see what was happening on the grounds, but Fíli had witnessed it first hand. He told Dwalin, who only shook his head, dismissing Fíli’s warnings as hallucinations born out of battle-rage. According to him, Fíli was not in his right mind. Fíli knew better.

Second, they had kept the orc attack to themselves, putting them all at risk. For some reason, only Glóin had addressed the issue. Third, three of them were elves, which meant that the other two had terrible taste in friends. Fourth they were insane, they adamantly believed they were humans and that they traveled through time.

When added up, those factors did not make a safe combination, Fíli would be a fool to not acknowledge that. He had been okay with all of the facts above before, but now that he found out what they were really capable of in the battleground, he was not so sure anymore. These were experienced liars. 

Kíli shook him a bit by the shoulder.

"Are you alright?" He murmured.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine."

Kíli smiled worriedly and nodded. 

"Okay, then."

"If you keep brooding like that you will end up like Thorin." Bilbo told him right away.

Thorin gasped, but instead of getting angry, he just scoffed in disbelief.

"Why am I surprised that you would take advantage of our friendship to speak ill of me?" Thorin shook his head.

Everybody froze for a second.

"You know what they say, who needs enemies when you have Bilbo as a friend?" Lumi came in rubbing her eyes, unbothered by Thorin's declaration.

She sat up by Bilbo's other side with the help of Alê and Velaar who decided to sit on the floor, because there was barely any place left at the table.

"Where are Será and Barvo?" Dwalin asked, looking around. 

"Who?" Beorn asked, turning his head.

"The dwarf with pink braids and the elf who has a weird behavior." Fíli answered without hesitation.

"She has a head injury, Fíli." Kíli commented in a barely audible tone. 

It sounded like disapproval, but that could not be. Kíli never disapproved of him. 

"What he means to say is, the elf with long curly hair and tanned skin." Bilbo corrected him.

"Oh, I do see who you speak of. She is resting, I applied a bit of ointment that should reduce the swelling." The giant smiled.

"Good." Dwalin nodded.

If you speak of the devil and he will appear, Fíli thought as Barvo and Será came with Bombour and Bifur. Será was looking better, Fíli noticed. She moved with more ease and she was speaking with fluidity. The day before, she could barely stand. He may not like the foreigners, but he did not wish them any harm. It made him feel better to know she was healing.

They went to the table and Kíli gestured for Será to sit with them. She looked at their sibling who nodded and went in their direction. She was much taller than Kíli and it was funny to see how clumsy she was. Elves usually were very… graceful when they moved. She was not. It took her a few moments to sit down. 

Behind her, Barvo went to sit with Velaar and Alê while Bombour and Bifur sat close to the Ri brothers. 

“How are you feeling lass?” Balin asked her.

All eyes were on her and she did not look comfortable having all of their attention on her. After a second she responded to the question with a very strange gesture, opening her left hand, extending it with the palm down then shaking it twice, Fíli noticed she was also pouting as she signed. He wondered if the pouting was part of her gesture and if it held a meaning. It probably did, seeing as she did not feel like elaborating on that. 

“Okay… could you… explain that?” Balin raised his brows.

“She says she doesn’t feel too bad but she could be doing better.” Lumi answered after dabbing a napkin on his lips, making Bilbo beam with pride.

“She said all of this in one gesture?” Kíli was amazed.

He then proceeded to imitate her, greatly exaggerating a pout. They all laughed and Será frowned, a bit lost.

“You traitors.” Bofur told them when he came last.

* * *

✵

## Bofur

Bofur was going to consider his time in bed (well, what he was laying on was almost a bed) as a blessing from Mahal himself. They were being lucky if they even got a roof to sleep under. When he went to sleep, he was surrounded by the company but when he woke up, there was nobody. It came as no surprise, honestly, they were all early birds. What was surprising though, was that once he got up he had found that everybody was sharing a meal together and no one had thought of calling him. The audacity of these people.

“Oh, now that you are all here, I am glad to say that I know your tale to be truthful. I killed a troop of wargs that were passing close by.” Beorn told them once Bofur approached the table. “And I will take care of the elfling. I can apply a bit of more ointment, the swelling has gone a lot down but there is still room for improvement.” He looked at the head-injured elf who seemed healthier, much healthier.

“May we leave her with you?” Dwalin asked and a loud protest came from the time-travelers, Ori and Kíli “She is in no shape to fight!” He answered, annoyed. “Don’t disagree with me, you know it’s true!” He pointed at Será who seemed ready to give him a rebuttal. 

“You may, but it sounds like the young people here present don't appreciate the idea of leaving her behind. And she doesn’t seem to want to stay.” He smiled and took Bilbo and Lumi, placing them one on each shoulder. “Come on little rabbits, I will show you my bees.”

He did not miss the face Lumi made.

Bilbo had been sitting by Thorin, only now had Bofur noticed. Bilbo had become his friend and for the past month or so he vented about Thorin being moody and unbearable. It looked like what happened at the Carrock really had changed something. 

Right after Beorn left, Dwalin stood up and called the youngsters of the company for a training session. He also asked Nori to help him, something about there being too many young people and not many reasonable minds. Bofur was sitting down by his brothers. 

“Honestly, if he was looking for a reasonable mind, Nori would not have been my first choice.” Bofur shook his head.

Bifur agreed with him and Bombur only nodded as he ate desperately like it was the first time he saw food in days. Come to think of it, it was not that far off from reality.

“So, Thorin and Bilbo?” He changed the subject.

“Apparently they kind of decided on calling each other friends.” Bifur signed.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Bombur agreed.

“Dori, ei, what do ya think about it?”

Dori turned his head from where he was talking to Balin.

“About what?”

“About the king’s and the hobbit’s new friendship?”

“There is nothing new about it. I had seen it coming from miles.” He told him matter-of-factually.

Well then.

* * *

✵✵

## Fíli

“Watch it, asshole!” Fíli easily understood that line, maybe it was because Barvo was getting better in common. 

Or maybe he was just starting to understand their language better, seeing that Barvo was constantly following him around. 

They were training in the backyard and Fíli decided to go harder on Barvo. He knew the truth, that they could do it, Barvo was a trained warrior. Once they were in battle nobody could stop them. Maybe he only saw Lumi, Velaar and Alê in battle, but he was certain that Barvo’s level would not be that different. The dwarves were all watching them when Gandalf came back, but nobody really paid attention to his arrival, too focused on the friendly matches that were being held in Beorn’s garden.

“Son of a bitch!” Barvo held their hand tightly to their body.

Maybe the arrival of the wizard had taken his mind off of the match and maybe he had hit them with his sword. But they should have dodged the blow. Although he knew his kind had a tendency for having a nasty temper, he did not expect their outburst. They had always been like a spaniel, you kick it and for some odd reason it only loves you more.

“Brother, I _something, something!_ Does _something_ have problem _?!_ Is, _something,_ crazy?!”

“Yes, in fact I understand everything you just said.” Fíli smiled, he knew he had not hurt Barvo badly, the blades they were using were blunt. 

Or at the very least not too sharp.

“You are an asshole. I swear to God.” Barvo scrunched up their face, shook their head before looking down, resting a hand on their hip.

They looked up at Fíli, visibly trying to hold their emotions through the physical pain and the frustration they were feeling because of him (apparently). They took some deep breaths, made a face and closed then opened their hands, in a way that Fíli had learned meant they wanted to strangle somebody. It was now directed to him. Finally, they just muttered an ‘arrogant pompous royal ass.’ and walked out. 

“Are you serious right now?!” Fíli frowned.

Barvo kept making their way toward where they held weapons and took a sword out of it. It was a short sword that looked like it had seen better days. Then they started hitting the grass multiple times with it, in pure anger.

Fíli was left dumbfounded and he was not the only one, Dori and Balin seemed shocked, while Dwalin was bent over in laughter. Thorin seemed troubled by their display of anger. 

He looked at Kianda who went to talk with Barvo while Velaar was murdering him with her eyes. Then Kianda took Barvo with her. Será was fighting Kíli, she definitely was not at her best, but she had not healed to her fullest. Kíli was being nice to her. Fíli just could not. He voted for keeping them because he thought them to be necessary, but they had been nearly useless to them. They had not actually warned anybody from the orc’s attack, and maybe everyone else had forgiven them, he had not.

His uncle almost died and his brother had been in harm’s way. He was not happy. He was filled with anger. So what if he took it out on them? They deserved it for letting it happen. The only person he forgave was Será, she had not even had the chance to warn them. He respected Kianda for being a warrior and he could see that she was capable of doing things, he just did not like their whole stance. If their time-travelling tale was true, then them keeping a monopoly over their knowledge did not sit right with him. Also, after Barvo’s song in Goblin town, he was certain that they were a demented killer ready for the gore and not caring for children.

Velaar went up to him and challenged him on a friendly duel. He felt his blood boiling when he looked at her. She was the reason why they took the pathway over the mountains, she was the reason why the great goblin had warned Azog. She was in for a ride.

He was surprised when she used her full capacities against him. They fought to the point where both had lost their weapons. He had unarmed her, but she was able to keep fighting, and Fíli decided keeping a sword in this situation was not fair, so he dropped his swords as well. They fought for five whole minutes, that was how long it took for Velaar to use her bigger body to her advantage and to pin him to the ground.

Everyone stayed in silence then they applauded and cheered, even Kíli and Será stopped their matches to yell a few nice words at Velaar.

“Did you go for a hand to hand combat against her? Are you insane?” Dwalin laughed as he passed by them. “Será, you can stay with the company if you prove yourself to Thorin. And if you take your treatment seriously, you hear me?” He called on her.

Será nodded eagerly before making a pained face. 

“Had you already taught Velaar how to twist her sword like that?” Fíli pointed out.

Dwalin looked bothered as if he could not make sense out of the situation.

Which made Fíli smile, now he was going to get it.

“No, I had not. I did not teach you those moves with the sword.” Dwalin frowned.

“Not yet.” Velaar agreed.

Fíli decided it was time for someone to cut their enigmatic crap. 

“What do you mean? Seriously, I think we all deserve a better explanation than ‘not yet’. During the ambush, you were fighting like you never fought in any training session.” Fíli pressed, he thought Dwalin would stop him, but he let him speak his mind instead.

“I meant what I said. ‘Not yet’. He has not taught me yet.” Velaar repeated.

“Elaborate on that, because we are all curious on how well trained you are despite your claims of being beginners of sorts.” 

Dwalin turned his head to Velaar, joining Fíli.

“I-I I can’t.” 

“Sure you can!” Fíli insisted.

Será came up to them, intervening in their fight.

“You hurt Barvo because you were angry. I know that.” Oh wow, Bilbo’s lesson on conjugation had actually paid off. “But we did nothing for you to hate us.”

“You did nothing, that is why we were attacked. And you still haven’t answered my question.”

“We thought if we were able to distract him for long, Gandalf would have time to come before the great goblin warned Azog.” Okay, so maybe it was still a work in progress.

“Gandalf would have time.” Fíli corrected.

Velaar gasped.

“Really? Are you correcting her right now?” She frowned.

“Yes, and your plan was stupid!” Fíli growled. “But can we go back to your ‘not yet’ bit?”

“No, I already told you I can’t answer this.”

Dwalin’s face went dark as betrayal painted his whole face. 

“But-” Fíli tried one last time.

“You heard the lass, Fíli.”

“She did not answer…”

“And she doesn’t want to."

Fíli stayed quiet.

“Thank you for understanding, Dwalin.” Velaar smiled at him. “I have to go find Alê.”

Dwalin nodded and went to instruct Kíli and Será.

“Why, are you afraid that Barvo might steal her from you?” Fíli had noticed how close they were.

Velaar frowned and shook her head.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

"I mean, it's pretty obvious to me."

“I think it would be best if you had this discussion somewhere more private, don’t you think?” Dori suggested.

They both ignored him as they stared each other down, still unaware that all the attention of the dwarves had gone to them. They started a heated discussion.

“What is going on?” Bilbo separated them. “We went to see Beorn’s bees for two minutes and this is what happens?” Bilbo looked furiously at the both of them “You should not scream like this, you are scaring the birds!”

“And all of the other animals!” Lumi dropped in.

“They keep their knowledge of the so-called future to themselves!” Fíli roared.

"Now, now, I was the one who told them to keep the future a secret. Another thing, the future is what they lived in, their knowledge is their memory. Do you go around sharing all of your memories? Maybe they are more personal than you think.” Gandalf finally intervened, once he was properly entertained, of course.

"My memories are of no help to retake a kingdom.” Fíli rebutted.

“Well yes, but what if that knowledge changed things and by changing things they would be not able to tell the future anymore?” 

He arguably had not thought of that. He turned red in embarrassment and in anger.

"Are you telling me you are the one to blame?!"

“Don’t talk to Gandalf like this!”

Thorin was about to break the fight when Bilbo beat him to it. 

"Fíli, I think it would be best if you went back inside the house with Velaar. Talk it out." Bilbo said before Thorin could say anything.

To Fíli's own surprise, both of them deflated and nodded like two children who had been caught stealing. 

Once Fíli and Velaar had walked enough distance that nobody could hear them, she sighed.

"You know, I don't hate you. I want to help you Fíli." Velaar started. "You are in many history books of ours, you are practically a hero in my time and it's an honor for me. But you make it hard, very hard. Sometimes I even wonder if it was a good choice." 

"Choice?" Fíli asked eloquently.

"We had a vote, to help the dwarves or not, I voted for helping you."

Fíli felt guilt being poured on him like a bucket of cold water, freezing him despite the warm sun.

"I thought… it doesn't matter. I know that you are not… bad per se but… I can't trust you, because your kind hurt mine, do you understand?"

Velaar shook her head "I am not my… entire kind, Fíli. I am me first, I am an elf second. I, me, an individual and it’s more important than being just my kind. Also I can't even speak Sindarin." She said with some regret.

"You are not from the same time so maybe it's hard for you to understand." Fíli commented he did not believe it, but maybe it would convince her to drop it.

"No, I understand. This happens in my time too, but in my time, men decided that there are different races among them based on skin colour. I am not the best placed to talk about it, I was not discriminated against. But yes, I know that. People always try to take many steps away from the other because they are different, because they have history, I know. But sometimes the person is more important than the people.”

Fíli was about to stop and to say it was not just that, he did not fully trust Barvo either, hell, he had even hurt them earlier. Then he realised that he still had let them in camp and had talked to them and tried teaching them bits of Khuzdul. He even had fun with them, despite what he claimed about disliking them to his very core. It was like having an annoying younger relative who followed you around and exasperated you, but deep down you still thought of them fondly. They had created some sort of friendship. A bond he had probably broken after acting the way he did.

"I can't really trust you if you keep lying. Any of you." Fíli added.

“I can prove I'm telling you the truth about where we come from. I have my… phone?" She started looking through her pockets and when she finally took something out, it looked like a square with broken glass on it. "Shit! The fall must've broken it!" She sounded disgusted by that.

"So, no proof then?"

"Wait, let me turn that on." She touched something and the thing lit up. "This is a phone, it comes from the future." She showed him.

"What if this only proves you are a witch?"

She flinched at that and took her thing back. 

"I am not. I have pictures of your things, I took archaeology classes."

Fíli had no idea what archaeology meant but waited for her to show. She showed him her 'phone' again and there was a picture of Ori's small manuscript, but it looked old and messed up. It finally hit Fíli. They really were from the future. He sat down with that, feeling dizzy. 

"I can show you when we were humans too." 

He stood up and nodded. She showed him another picture and there they were, humans. Lumi was still the smallest and it took him some time to recognise Barvo, they had shaved sides and very dark short curly hair. 

"I believe you."

"I sure hope you do."

"That doesn't explain why you lied, though."

"Would you have trusted a well trained fighter who could take you?"

"I would if you hadn't appeared out of nowhere saying you came from the future."

Fíli and Velaar looked at each other.

"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time.

Maybe apologising was not as hard as he thought.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I’ve been thinking about it, and I just realised that it makes sense that Thorin and Fíli would have a hard time apologising. You see, during medieval times, they believed that the king was chosen by God. This might seem irrelevant, seeing as God technically doesn’t exist in this universe, right? That is only half right. 
> 
> God may not exist, but Tolkien’s works (that happen in Middle-Earth) are obviously inspired by the medieval period (or at the very least by medieval texts such as Beowulf) and as such, they do have a few elements from that period and their beliefs. One of the things that we know is that Thorin is from the line of Durin. Imagine how much meaning that must hold for the dwarves. They are from a sacred bloodline (basically) and as such, they are fated for the throne. Which means that they could not possibly make a mistake, they were chosen by Mahal and it was what they were born to do. Apologising is also a way of admitting a mistake, which they could not have done based on their beliefs. This is just my take on their psychology. Maybe I’m reading too deep into this.
> 
> second thing: Don’t hate on Fíli, I swear he is just like this because paranoia took over. He will get better. I mean, yes, he is being awful and I will not excuse his behaviour but he still has time to redeem.
> 
> Also, the line about kicking a puppy was an actual belief in Elizabethan time (and I think that before that too) that if you kicked and mistreated a spaniel, it would only love you more. I just thought it would be nice to have a Shakespearean reference ( A midsummer night’s dream: “I am your spaniel, and [...] The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. ) I know it’s a messed up belief, okay? Please don’t use that to train your dog, seriously, it won’t love you more. Like, seriously.


	12. Let's call it vacations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwalin is suspicious so there's a little bit of drama in which the foreigners share a bit about their lives before shit happens, Thorin and Bilbo have a training session. And there is a broken guitar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why it took me so long to write this chapter, but I guess that nothing was feeling right. I didn't proofread it, sorry.
> 
> I've been feeling so tired lately... jfc. But yeah, tomorrow I might edit this chapter so it doesn't have as many mistakes. I'm really sleep deprived rn lol. I need sleep.

##  Dwalin

After Velaar and Fíli left, Bilbo and Lumi joined them in training. Dwaln tried to keep his mind in the moment. After all, it was a waste of time to wonder whether or not what Fíli said had any weight. So they kept their training and until Dwalin decided they had done enough. Unfortunately, he could not stop his thoughts from going there, thinking the prince did have a point. He went up to Thorin who was talking to BIlbo and Kíli, showing them how he was holding his sword.

“You see, if you bring your sword to your shoulders, it might increase your impact, but don’t do it if you don’t have a shield that you know how to properly handle. You will be leaving a huge part of your chest unprotected and that is what is going to get you in battle.” He demonstrated.

“Thorin, I think we need to talk.”

“Hm?” He turned to face him, his smile turning into a frown when he saw Dwalin’s serious face, “What is it?” He put his sword back in his scabbard.

“Not here.”

Thorin nodded and followed him.

“I think Fíli is right.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is something odd with those foreigners.”

“I think we had all established that.” Thorin raised his brows.

“Maybe, but we’ve been letting our guards down lately.”

Thorin frowned and nodded.

“I think so too.”

They went back to meet with the others who were having an easy conversation. They sat down and joined them, acting as if nothing had happened. 

It was by that time that Velaar and Alê joined them with a beardless, short haired dwarf who was talking to Fíli. The company stared in shock. What was going on? It was not before the dwarf spoke that they all recognised them.

“Barvo?” Kíli approached cautiously, “What happened to your hair and your growing beard?!” He sounded on the brink of losing it.

Honestly, Dwalin could understand, the world started spinning and he felt nauseous. 

“Barvo, what have you done?! Are you insane? What happened to your pink hair? What have you done to your braids?” Kíli insisted.

“I help Barvo take it off. It keeps…” Kianda said, she was proud of her job. “Falling their eyes.” She helpfully explained.

“You should have told me! I would have braided them behind your head or something.” 

“Nah, it’s scratchy.” Barvo did not feel bad about it. “We took… Dwalin thing for shave. We asked before using and we clean it.” Barvo added quickly. 

When had that ever happened?

* * *

_ Barvo had started hitting the grass as if it had personally offended them. Kianda excused herself from the training and went to calm them down. Later, she made her way to Dwalin back again. _

_ “Hm, Dwalin, can I borrow your thing for shave?”  _

_ Well that was random. Dwalin shrugged, not really minding. _

_ “Go for it, just clean it well once you are done with it, eh.” _

* * *

Oh, so that was what it was for, Dwalin thought.

Dwalin was still staring at their hair, it was so short. He wanted to throw up.

“They hate long hair and the braids were fake hair… glued to their head.” Fíli explained, sounding uncertain.

Kianda made a disagreeing face but did not correct Fíli’s statement. Maybe it was something hard to explain.

“And it’s heavy when it’s wet.” Barvo added. 

Dwalin was in shock, Barvo’s hair was a dark shade, almost black, he looked at Kianda.

“Your hair is the same?” Kíli beat him to it.

“Yes.” Kianda laughed.

The world was a lie to him now. He noticed that Barvo had also shaved the slight beard that had started growing on the sides of their cheeks, but they left the mustache that was still peach fuzz. 

“I know I am beautiful with short hair, stop staring.” They snorted and went on their merry way.

"You are strange…" Kíli commented and the whole company nodded in agreement.

They definitely needed to keep an eye out for them, now Dwalin was sure.

* * *

✵

##  Velaar

Velaar woke up sweating and shivering. The memory of her friends burning on a pyre still very fresh in her mind. She hugged her legs, lying in a fetal position. She was safe. They had made it to Beorn’s house, they just had to make it to the end, they could do it. She blocked the bad thoughts away. It was all Fíli’s fault, his and his mistrust of them.

That day had been intense and all Velaar wanted to do was to sit down for a bit and stare at the stars, but she could not even do that. Gandalf had told them to stay inside at night. She could not sleep, thinking of the consequences of what she had shown Fíli and the rest of the company. She had been so angry when she lashed out that she had forgotten she was supposed to not have any training in combat other than her talent with martial arts. She knew that meant they had lost the little bit of trust they had managed to build. 

Velaar came to the conclusion that she was not going to sleep that night and decided she was going to get up and do something productive, make new plans. She had lost her greatest accomplice when Será got a head injury but she knew she could manage. 

She tried to move but she was paralysed. It had never happened to her before, she tried using all of her strength to move a single finger but it did not bugde. She felt panic rising from the thought of being vulnerable in a room full of people who would not hesitate before killing her. Her breathing started to pick up at a higher speed, her limbs started to grow cold and she was sure she was dying. She knew she was, but she never expected it would happen there, as she trembled like a sheet of paper in the wind. She had hoped to die on the battlefield, instead she was dying of fear of something that had not even happened yet. Her left side, where her heart lied, was aching and she could hear the thumping of her heart going faster and faster, violently hitting her ribcage. She was going to die alone and they would only find her body in the morning, they probably would not even care. They would take a look and go ‘Oh well, one less problem to deal with’. Tears streamed down her face and she heard a loud cry of pain. It was her.

“Velaar?!” someone called.

There was movement going all around her. Something took her head and then cradled her as she wailed and shook in violent sobs. She was dying, she was dying.

“Velaar, open your eyes, look at me. Look at me.” A hand held her face tightly. “Open your eyes.” Velaar tried but her eyelids stayed glued. “Come on, open your eyes, you can do it.”

She slowly did as she was told and her eyes met with large brown soothing eyes. She was still feeling so cold.

“That’s it. That’s my girl.” Alê smiled, then she turned around. “ _ Vus puoder donar la algũs léus.” _

She heard people moving but she could not keep her eyes off hers.

“I-I’m d-dying.” Velaar cried.

“Shh.. no, you are not. You're okay, hm? Feel your heart.” She took Velaar’s hand and placed it on her chest. 

Velaar could feel it.

“See? It's beating, you are okay. Look at me, little star. You are okay.” She smiled and instructed her to take a deep breath, Velaar followed her instructions.

After a while, when she could finally breathe, she felt embarrassment over what happened.

_ “I am sorry for waking you all up.” _ She told the company.

_ “Lass, I know you said you can’t say, but I think you owe us a bit of an explanation. All of you are scarred in a way that makes no sense for people like you to be.”  _ Balin told her.

_ “What do you mean, people like us?”  _ Velaar frowned.

_ “From what we gathered, that future of yours that you describe from time to time seems very… comfortable.” _

Lumi laughed.

_ “Maybe because we don’t tell you about the dark stuff. I was from a place called Hibera, that I’ll probably never see again because I am stuck here. Do I prefer Hibera over here? Yes, it was my home. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t have to fight everyday in my life just to survive.” _ Lumi frowned, Balin was about to say something else when she held a finger up.

_ “Será, Alê, Velaar and Barvo were from a place called Polist. They had to leave because there was a civil war hanging over their heads. Do you know what it feels like? Your own people fighting against each other? I don’t, but they had to live through it.” _ She took a deep breath. __

_ “They left and they had to find a home, just like you did. Except you have a chance of getting it back. Some of us will never be able to. Look at Barvo and Será, their father dared criticise their leader, guess what happened? A death threat for each one of their family members. They will never get to see home.” _ She pointed at the siblings, who looked down, sadness washing over their faces.  _ “Not to mention that if you are… what they consider unconventional there, you might get shot. Can you imagine that? Dying just because you are who you are?” _

_ “Velaar can still visit from time to time, sure. But whenever she is there, she can’t even recognise what she used to call home. These three were lucky, they happened to also have Hibera to call home.”  _

_ “But do you see Alê? She had nowhere to go to, so she stayed and tried to fight for her beliefs, if she ever gets back, she is dead. She then had to seek asylum, and let’s just say Hibera is not the most welcoming of places for a refugee. She had to depend on others to get a place to stay.”  _ She rebutted.  _ “So with all due respect Master Balin, you don’t know our lives.” _

Velaar trembled and Alê held her arm. Strong emotions were not a good idea after a panic attack and remembering home always brought too many of those. She felt anxious about sharing this and Alê did not seem to be all that happy with that either. 

The company stayed in silence, then a riot started among them, ‘you should have told us, for Mahal’s sake!’

_ “Silence!”  _ Gandalf ordered.  _ “I agree this is very concerning, but this discussion can wait for the morning. Some of us need their rest.”  _ He then looked at Será.

This managed to silence everyone and put them to bed. Alê lied by her side and held her hand, she noticed her dismay at Lumi’s oversharing.

“Don’t think too much about it. Good night, little star, have nice dreams.”

She nodded and held her hand tighter, but she did not sleep that night.

* * *

✵✵

##  Thorin

Velaar’s revelation left everybody speechless. They were the same, he realised. He often heard that History repeated itself. Only then did he realise how true that was. He went to sleep by Bilbo’s side again that night.

“Did you know?” He whispered.

“I-I did not. But I knew they were hiding something. Do you think that is why they have experience with weapons?” Bilbo asked.

“That could be it. According to Velaar… P-P”

“Polist.”

“Right. It was at the brink of a civil war, so maybe they had to defend themselves. But I can’t be sure they are telling the truth.”

Bilbo turned to him.

“Are you serious? You can’t be that oblivious… Lumi shared that piece of information without consulting the others but the mention of it made them turn pale. They were reliving memories, I could tell.”

“I guess I can trust you.”

“Yes, yes you can.” He smiled.

Thorin smiled back. 

“So, did you like my input in today’s training session on how to hold a sword?” Thorin asked earnestly.

“It could be better.”

“You wound me.” Thorin deadpanned. “But I am serious, would you like for me to help you handle your sword better?”

Bilbo looked at him and nodded.

“I mean, who better than Thorin Oakenshield in the flesh to teach me how to fight?”

Thorin looked away, for some reason he preferred just being Thorin when he was with Bilbo. Thorin, the blacksmith and not Thorin Oakenshield, the war hero or even Thorin of the Durin’s line, king under the mountain.

“Are you alright, Thorin?”

“Oh, yes.”

“I think I lost you for a second there.”

“Yes, I didn't mean to.”

“It’s alright, it is pretty late, after all. Have nice dreams, Thorin.” He yawned and turned his back to Thorin.

Thorin smiled despite himself.

“Sleep tight.” 

* * *

✵✵✵

Thorin did not give too much thought on the foreigners’ story after that. Although he did not particularly care, he did notice that the company started treating them differently, as if the knowledge that they were the same suddenly made them trustworthy. Thorin decided against his better judgment, to let that go. He was focused on teaching the hobbit how to survive.

“You can’t give a blow like this. If you don’t go back to your original position, then you are putting yourself at risk.” He told him, as Bilbo tried to launch at him. “That is why you need to mind your stepping. The way you went after me made you too vulnerable and unstable, look.” He proceeded to push Bilbo with gentleness, and as expected, he almost fell. “See what I mean?” Thorin grunted. “If you keep doing this, you will die.” 

He held Bilbo by his collar and put him back on the ground, helping him stand. He took a few steps back and turned to Bilbo, held up Orcrist and gave a sly smile.

“Come on, master Burglar, one more time!” He taunted.

Bilbo scoffed at that. He tightened his grip on his small sword, frowning. He then launched again, aiming at Thorin’s side, Thorin easily dodged and turned around, placing Orcrist on his throat. Bilbo stopped breathing and widened his eyes, relieving his hold on the handle of his sword. Thorin smirked, keeping the sword there, almost touching Bilbo’s skin. He took two steps closer and let Orcrist down. 

“Your stepping is getting better, but it’s not there yet, see how I was able to counter back with ease? Once you landed your strike, you let your guard down. Don’t ever do this in the battleground. Also, if your stepping was better, you could’ve dodged Orcrist just as easily.” He corrected Bilbo’s stance and took another several steps back.

“Again, Bilbo.” He brandished Orcrist in his direction, “You better do it if you don’t want to die.”

Bilbo’s face was dripping with sweat, the halfling probably was not used to this much physical activity. And yet, he still looked determined to work through his issues, he wanted to improve, and Thorin appreciated the effort.

“Uncle Thorin!” Kíli approached as Bilbo was about to land a hit.

Bilbo immediately stopped holding his sword very close to Thorin’s head. Thorin smiled, Bilbo might not be the greatest swordsman alive but his precision was something that could make many envious.

“That was great, Bilbo.” He patted his shoulder. “What is it, Kíli?”

“Dwalin told me to come here and help you out with Bilbo’s training session. Something about getting him another opponent to change things up.”

“Alright, get in position then. I am not taking it easy on you.” Thorin stepped out of Bilbo’s reach and made way for Kíli to replace him. “Bilbo, this time I want you to try to stop a blow from Kíli, alright? Kíli, don’t be too aggressive, we don’t want anyone wounded on his first day trying.”

Bilbo let his sword down with a look of disbelief on his face. 

“Excuse you? For your information, I’ve been trying ever since the first day.”

Kíli made a face, extended his right hand, fingers open, palms down and shook it twice, he was using the gesture Será had shown them the day before.

“Kíli, don’t you…” Bilbo imitated Kíli, “to me.” He raised his chin up. “I don’t like it that both of you truly think I wasn’t trying.”

“Well… you did complain about handkerchiefs.” Kíli answered him.

Bilbo gaped his mouth wide open. 

“I can’t believe I am hearing this. Of course I needed my handkerchiefs, what if I got a cold? Where would I blow my nose?” He placed his hands in his hips.

Thorin was feeling conflicted, on one side, the sight of Kíli and Bilbo fighting over something so irrelevant was very amusing. On the other side, it unnerved him because they needed to get their training hour going. 

“Also, you never once showed up for the training sessions in Rivendell.”

“Well, I was busy trying to get to know the elven culture.”

“What culture?”

He held the bridge of his nose with his right hand and frowned, he decided this situation was very tiring. They were acting like children, the both of them. He took a deep breath and held back a laugh. This was getting ridiculous.

“Kíli, that’s enough. Bilbo, be the bigger hobbit. Can we proceed, now?”

They both nodded, flustering once they remembered of Thorin’s presence. Kíli was putting himself in position to land a hit when Thorin stopped him. He picked up two branches and gave one to each of them.

“You can use that.”

“Since when do you care for safety?” Bilbo wondered out loud.

“Let’s just say I know Kíli enough to know that he is not the greatest with impulse control.”

“What? I am great with impulse control!” Kíli answered indignated. 

“No you are not, even I know that.” Bilbo looked at him meaningfully.

“Stop with the bickering.” Thorin reminded them. “Now you can go.”

Kíli finally went for it, but Bilbo was too scared that he froze and received a branch right on his face. Bilbo looked shocked and touched his cheek and back at Kíli.

“Listen, I can give you advice for that: don’t freeze, it will get you dead.” Kíli told him. “Also, you are holding your sword wrong and you being in this position won’t keep you from falling. I am sure Thorin showed you how.”

Thorin watched the scene display before him, it was better than the bickering. Kíli hit one of Bilbo’s legs with the branch, forcing him to spread them wider.

“Hey, only I can mistreat my pupils, Kíli.” Thorin joked.

Kíli ignored him and instructed Bilbo to relax his stance a bit and bent his knees.

“You should be more stable now.”

Thorin went to inspect Bilbo’s position and corrected a few things then stepped back, he looked at Kíli and nodded.

“Try again.” He commanded. 

They spent their morning and their afternoon (once they properly ate at lunch, of course) doing this, and each time Bilbo improved a little, making Thorin very happy with his progress.

* * *

✵✵✵✵

They would have to leave at some point, but he talked to Beorn and he allowed them to stay for about a week. 

"I think a week is too much time, we have to go soon, uncle." Fíli warned him.

"Aye, I agree, we can't risk the chance to miss Durin's day. We have one chance alone, one. It's best if we don't waste a single day if we can. Imagine the unexpected happens, then those extra days will come in handy." Balin agreed.

"I don't know, can't you give us one more day?" Lumi begged. "Será could use one more day to rest."

They had chosen Lumi as the spokesperson for the time-travelers. 

"As much respect as I have for your stories, we can't risk the whole expedition for her." Dwalin told her apologetically. 

"I'm only asking one day, you know you have enough time!" Lumi begged.

It was then that he saw right through her.

"You are not asking for Será. Something happens and you need for us to take that extra day."

"You always do."

"What?"

"Nothing. But yes, I need you to take an extra day."

Thorin frowned along with everyone else.

"What happens in the forest?"

Lumi looked around, trying to decide whether or not she should tell them what she knew. 

"We should not be able to trust their knowledge all that well, you know." Balin commented. "No disrespect, miss Lumi… but you live in the future where what is happening now happened centuries ago, am I correct?"

"Well, yes."

"And you must have many historical sources, don't you?"

"Yes?"

"And sometimes they conflict with each other, don't they?"

"Of course they do, that happens with every historical even…" Lumi's eyes then widened and she looked at Balin in shock.

"Well then, we can all agree that your knowledge is not that much… reliable then, is it?"

"I-I b-but… but they don't conflict in this! You have to stay four days!"

"We can only stay three days because Dwalin and Thorin decided we should take Será despite every indication that showed otherwise. She is not walking very fast at the moment, you know." Balin rebutted. "I am sorry but this is the only way we can make sure things go right." 

Lumi deflated and nodded. 

"You should definitely take more food, what you are thinking of bringing isn't nearly enough. However much you are taking, double it, hell, triple it." Lumi advised.

Thorin nodded and gestured for her to leave.

"Are you sure you want her with us?" Balin raised his eyebrows.

"Maybe she was trustworthy when she had her full mind with us, but now that she isn't all there? You can't take the risk of anyone getting their hands at her." Dwalin told him.

"I agree with Dwalin and we need to make sure we bring what the lady-hobbit advised." Fíli let them know.

"Oh really?" Balin sounded surprised.

"Yes, I voted for them to come since the beginning and as I recall, so have you." 

"I did, and I did not change my mind either, I just think that four of them is enough."

"Normally I would have agreed with you, but I talked to Velaar, from what I understand, it is Alelebela and Será who have the most knowledge of our time. Velaar and Lumi have the greatest understanding of our language…. And I don't really know what Barvo does."

"They were able to distract a nest of goblins with their voice, it's something." Dwalin went to Barvo's defense. 

"I know, but I doubt it's going to be useful in Mirkwood, or in Laketown." 

"I'm going to quote my brother, lad. 'Imagine the unexpected happens'." 

Thorin kept on thinking about the whole story. It was true that the travelers did not eat as much food as the company did, which meant they could bring more provisions for the company as well. It was an asset that they knew the future as well, but Será could slow them down. And five people were a lot of people for Thorin to take care of. 

"We take them, but I can't be responsible for their lives." He decided.

"I can take that responsibility." Dwalin offered.

"No, I want you to focus on the mission. I don't want you to distract yourself with saving their lives. They have to be responsible for each other. You hear me? I don't want a single member of this company charging into danger just to save one of the foreigners, and I mean it. Make the word spread." 

He respected them, but respect only went so far. Fíli had told them Velaar showed him evidence attesting to them being humans and from the future and Thorin trusted him enough to believe in it. But that was the thing, he did not want to lose the life of one of his kind to save a cursed human.

"It's been two days, we leave tomorrow, then." Thorin turned his back to Balin, Dwalin and Fíli, making his way to warn everybody of their departure.

* * *

✵✵✵✵✵

##  Velaar

Barvo made a face when they started packing.

"What is it?"

"I think the only reason why they kept me along is gone." They sighed.

"What do you mean?" Alê frowned.

"My perfomance in goblin town."

"I am sure that is not the case." Lumi smiled at them. "They saw how you were fighting your way through goblin town." She reassured them.

"I think they were too busy fighting against goblins to notice." Barvo deadpanned. 

"I don't think so, I am sure that at least one person saw." Alê joined in.

"You guys are not getting the point."

"And the point is…?" Velaar approached.

"The point is that my guitar broke and it was the one reason why I was being kept around. But the most important thing is that I just noticed it broke." Barvo's eyes started gleaming.

They took out their guitar and in fact it was smashed, probably from the fall. 

"Oh, sib… I am so sorry." Será went to hug their brother.

The story of that guitar was as old as time. Barvo had been gifted that guitar, a very beautiful instrument that had been made with utmost care, two years before Polist became bad. It was one of the few things they managed to take with them. It was the last gift their father had given them. From what Velaar knew, he had chosen to stay. 

"It's alright, I think Mr.Angus III needed a break anyway." Barvo wiped their tears and placed their guitar by their side.

"Did you seriously name your guitar Mr.Angus III?" Lumi frowned.

"Were you a kid when you got it?" Velaar wondered out loud.

"Nope, I have no excuse. I just thought it was a cool name." 

"Oh, okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of this work and message me on my tumblr: alex-spring-flowers. Another thing, tell me what you think of the my characterization of Thorin… 'cause I feel like it's a bit off…. But yeah.
> 
> Also, maybe this chapter felt a bit rushed, Idk.


	13. When in doubt: Knock the wood thrice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dwarves, the time-travelers and Bilbo have to get through Mirkwood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not revised, sorry guys.
> 
> I really need to get an update schedule, Jfc. I tried posting everyday, because most of my chapters were already written down. But now I have to finish writing all the others and I am not even sure how I am going to end this fic… I used to know but now it doesn’t feel right. I don’t know. 
> 
> I don’t know if I should say this or not, but maybe you will notice that my fanfic has been going darker and darker and I swear it won’t be for too long. I think. I think that the gloomy feeling was me projecting, so I’m sorry about that. 
> 
> I know that at Beorn’s house, Bilbo should be the one to accompany Gandalf… but let’s just say that I thought that Thorin would not want to risk Bilbo’s life considering he carries the ring and Gandalf notices the shift. Another thing, I’m sorry it took me so long to update my stuff, but for some reason writing this chapter was a pain. I think that I took upon myself to be a bit more descriptive on what they see. Which probably did not work that well… Unfortunately, my vocabulary is very lacking when it comes to talking about nature and landscape, but I’m trying to improve. There are a bit of weird ‘traditions’, you guys know that one, right? Knocking three times on the wood for good luck or at least to scare away bad luck. But did you know that in some cultures you have to tap three times on your lips and spit three times on your shoulder? Well, now you do.

## Barvo

It was nice to stay a bit far from the others, I thought as I took one last walk through Beorn's halls. I was not avoiding them per se, but ever since Lumi had basically dumped the story of our lives without even asking, just to prove a point, the tension was just too much. I had forgiven her and so had the others, but it was just… not easy to forget. It felt like she had robbed a piece of our lives and exposed it in a museum without ever asking. 

Beorn's house reminded me of my granny’s house, a place where good memories laid with the sad remembrance of those who left us. For some reason, it felt like that to me. The house looked like a cottage of sorts, and there were some creepy animal servants, but it did not freak me out as much. I had gotten used to it. 

Leaving was harder with the knowledge that we could die just like that. I felt death would come before we could do what we had come to do. It scared me. Also, I was not particularly keen on starving. I brought as much food as I could, now that I had some space left from where my guitar used to be. Beorn lent us horses and ponies to take us to the edge of Mirkwood. He also warned us about the river, which I would like to never cross ever again if given the chance. If I died before that, I would not have to. I immediately perished the thought, thoughts like that always brought bad luck. I patted my lips three times and knocked my knuckles another three times on Beorn’s wooden table to counteract the bad luck. I may be an atheist but old habits die hard. 

_“What are you doing?”_

I turned around to face Fíli and something tightened in my heart. If we failed he would die. I knew he was not a fan of me, he dealt with my stuff but that was about it. I pestered him to no-end following him around, I just wanted to cherish his presence however long I could. I knew him so much better than he knew me and it hurt me a bit. I had so many memories and most of them never even happened. 

_"It's a… sort of tradition."_ That was not the word I was looking for but I figured it could work just as well. _"Whenever you think or you talk about a possible bad thing happening, it brings bad luck. The chances of that bad thing actually happening increase. To prevent it from happening after you've done it, you have to pat your lips three times, knock three times on any wooden surface and spit three times on your shoulder."_

Fíli made a face.

_"Most people just do the patting and the knocking part."_

_"What were you thinking about, then?"_

I just smiled and shook my head.

 _"I don't want it to happen, Fíli. Answering you means I have to talk about it and I don't want to pat and knock again."_ I really did not want to have bad thoughts at the moment either, I had to focus.

* * *

✵

We gathered our stuff and left. Gandalf was still with us, which meant he did not know about the Necromancer. I took it upon myself to warn him. After all, nobody really knew if that Necromancer was just a human playing with things they should not be or if it was the Enemy. 

“He is still here. Gandalf has not left us yet.” Alê muttered as we rode side by side.

“He is not supposed to.” I answered back.

“It doesn’t change the fact that he is, in fact, here.” Será joined the conversation, her mind was slowly turning back to what it was before.

“I will tell him about the Necromancer.” I assured them.

Once we stopped at the edge of Mirkwood, the air became somber and even the light of the Sun seemed to dim. I felt a shiver running down my spine and darkness seeping through my very own flesh and bones, like a venom consuming me slowly. I knew the feeling and I hated it. It made me sick, so much so that I felt like throwing up. 

We released Beorn's ponies and horses. He would have gone mad if we did not, believe me, I tried it before. I went up to Gandalf, but as usual, Velaar had beat me to it. They seemed deep in conversation and Gandalf nodded, telling Thorin he had things to do and left.

Honestly, reality had crashed on my face at that point. I had been rendered useless, with that thought, my heart tightened a little bit more. What was I even doing there? The sickness that came over me was so violent that I could not hold it anymore and I threw up. The company just looked at me and ignored it. My friends were too busy trying to calm down Thorin and reassure Dwalin. Another wave of nausea hit me, but I held it back. I was useless, I could die and nothing would change because I was the one holding everyone else back. I was feeling dizzy. 

_Breathe, it is all in your head._ I started calming down. But it was hard to convince myself that I was worth something. ‘ _Say no to bad thoughts’, ‘Laugh instead of crying’,_ were my mantras, they kept me from losing it.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, it was Bifur. I think he had never come to talk to me before. Fíli had taught me the basics of Iglishmêk but it was not great, so I could only think the conversation was going to end in disaster.

 _“What is it?”_ I asked as I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

That was gross, I probably should have thought of that before doing it. Now I was going to have to wear a shirt with puke for a month. Or more.

_“Fíli.”_

_“What about him?”_ I asked in Archaic.

 _“You like wood.”_ He signed.

Okay, that was weird. Maybe I was getting it wrong.

_“Fíli tell me to give you.”_

What on Ager was going on? He then handed me a small wooden toy, it looked like an eagle. 

_“What?!”_

I asked loudly, making a few birds fly. There was still some left, that was not the darkest part of the forest. 

_“For good luck.”_ Fíli came up to us. 

Oh, right. I smiled and nodded, thanking both of them. After that, I patted thrice on my lips and knocked thrice on the small wooden toy. I felt relief washing over me. I knew that logically it was just a stupid belief, but the gesture calmed me down so I figured whatever worked for me, worked for me. We started going through the path and I held on tightly to the small eagle. _Laugh instead of crying._

“I got a wooden eagle.” I showed my friends, trying to not think of the evil lurking through the forest. 

They frowned and Alê asked me where I had gotten such a thing. I told them about what happened in the morning and they all nodded but Lumi.

“Do you guys seriously do this in Polist?”

“Well, yes. Because it brings bad luck to think or to say out loud that something bad could happen. If you do it, then the bad thing will happen. It’s like, don’t give ideas to the universe because he might use it.” Será answered.

“What if you are talking about someone you don’t like anyway? If something happens then it’s a good thing, right?”

“Oh my God! Don’t say that!” We all whispered, exasperated.

“Do the thing! Do the thing!” Alê took my eagle from me and showed it to Lumi.

Lumi took it, eyes wide and did as Alê instructed her. We all let out a sigh of relief.

“If you wish for something bad to happen to someone else, then you are wishing for an even worse fate for yourself.” Velaar warned her. 

“But… what if you say ‘hypothetically, if this person did this then she would die.’”

“Just don’t do it.” I advised her as she handed me over the toy.

“But what about when Alê was saying she would kill everyone?”

“It’s different, she wasn’t wishing for us to die from something, she was willing to kill us herself. This thing works more like, don’t wish for the universe to fuck someone over or he will fuck you instead.” I simplified it.

“Also, I didn't mean it.” Alê quickly added.

“I see… So why the wood then?” Lumi asked me.

At least my knowledge about myths was still useful, somewhat.

“Well, there are many theories about the origin of that. The one I prefer is that ancient people (probably elves) noticed how the lightning bolt would often hit the trees, and so they believed that it was where their deities lived on Ager. The trees were sacred to them and so they would knock three times on one to apologise. Then it became anything that was made of wood. I don’t think dwarves usually do this.”

“Really?” Será asked me. “I did not know that.”

“I think so, but I can’t check on anything right now.” 

“Why do you need to pat three times your lips first, then?” Lumi raised an eyebrow.

“I have no idea, just like I have no idea why you need to spit three times on your shoulder either.”

“Wait. What?” Lumi’s eyes widened and her eyebrow went to her hairline. 

Then our small conversation was killed off by a brutal ‘shhh!’ coming from Thorin. We kept walking quietly from there.

* * *

✵✵

## Thorin

It started off well, the forest was dark but they could still travel. The company kept walking on the pathway, as Gandalf instructed them to, but sometimes he felt like he was being watched and he could see red eyes staring. It was probably all in his mind, but Mirkwood felt sick. As they went on, things started to get murkier, the name of the forest was no joke. He was surprised to find that the elves were the least affected by the forest. He knew that forests were like home to the pointy eared bastards, but Mirkwood was a scary place. 

They tried lighting a fire a few times when they camped, but it only attracted giant moths, so they decided to just not light a fire at all.

Soon, the days became so dark that they could not tell the Sun was rising as they plunged in an eternal night. Thorin found himself wishing to get at least a glance of a ray of light. They decided to stay as close as possible. Knowing that his company was the most used to darkness, he made them walk at the beginning and at the end of the line. He decided it was for their own benefit to have the time-travelers and Bilbo in the middle.

Something Thorin had refused to take notice of, was both of the hobbits’ state. In the beginning, they seemed a bit distant, but nothing that could worry Thorin. As things went on, Bilbo looked like a living-dead, his face looked pale and he looked sick. Even now that he could barely see in the darkness, he could see Bilbo was not fine. As for the lady-hobbit, she walked slower by the second, she seemed to be constantly shivering and looking around. Thorin did not like what it could mean. 

His thoughts started getting scrambled as the days passed by and food became scarce. And the foreigners would still talk their heads off. He was going to murder them when he got the chance. 

* * *

_“...you live in the future where what is happening now happened centuries ago, am I correct?"_

_"Well, yes."_

_"And you must have many historical sources, don't you?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"And sometimes they conflict with each other, don't they?"_

_"Of course they do, that happens with every historical even…"_

* * *

Thorin had thought of that discussion more than once, when Balin had enlightened how unreliable the word of the foreigners truly were. Which brought him to a dangerous question, how could they know the exact location of the ring and who was supposed to bear it? Surely there were different hypotheses on where the ring actually was and who took it. Maybe they were wrong, maybe he was the one supposed to carry it and not Bilbo, it made more sense to him. Were they really a key element to their success like Gandalf had suggested? Thorin pondered. If they died there would be more food for the company, maybe the rations would not be as meager. 

He shook the venomous thoughts away. He realised the forest was really getting into him. They were children, it did not matter if their use was questionable.

* * *

✵✵✵

When they came across a watercourse, their water was starting to run out. Even then, the stream could not have been less enticing. The water that flowed in the small river was as black as ink and it looked as thick as blood. The algae that proliferated there made the water flow slowly, and the stank of decaying fish and feces would probably not be washed away so soon. There was no bridge. Thorin looked around but he found nothing. 

“So this is what Beorn was talking about.”

Beorn had warned them not to touch that water. 

“There must be a bridge or something!” Kíli interjected.

“There must be.” Thorin agreed.

Against his own will, he made his way through the company and stopped at the feet of Alelebela, who looked down at him, a question mark on her face.

“Thorin, what are y-” Dwalin started.

Thorin held a hand up, asking him to stop.

“What do your elven eyes see?” He frowned.

The elf looked at her friends who all looked at loss. She looked back at Thorin and pointed at herself.

“Yes, you.”

She looked again at her friends, and frowned.

“I don’t see very well because of dark.”

Thorin snorted at that, he should have known better than to expect anything from the foreigners.

“But Bilbo doesn’t see as bad in darkness, you ask him.” She suggested a bit panicky. 

He wondered if she knew about his inner-discussions on whether or not they should die. 

Thorin nodded and called for Bilbo. He looked around and after a while he found a small boat on the other side. Kíli shot an arrow attached to a rope that Será had brought from Rivendell. They had been prepared for that, it seemed. Or maybe they guessed it could have been useful. Thorin was not sure.

They brought the small boat to their side of the river. It came slowly. The boat looked frail, so they decided to go in pairs: Dwalin and Balin, Thorin and Kíli, he felt it was safer to keep the young troublemaker where he could see him. Fíli and Ori, Bilbo and Lumi, Velaar and Alê, Nori and Dori, Será and Barvo, Bifur and Bofur, Óin and Glóin, and Bombur went alone. Barvo had started panicking halfway through the other side, but other than that, nothing happened.

The foreigners seemed on edge and Alê even got her bow and arrow at the ready. There really was something strange going on.

Why did they not want to share?

“Before we continue, is there anything you want to say?”

Lumi approached him.

“Nothing we say will make any difference to you. What will happen is set in stone.”

“Then there is no harm in telling!” Kíli demanded.

“Aye!” Glóin agreed. “I think there is no point in keeping things to yourself.”

“You heard Gandalf, it’s their memories!” Fíli defended them.

“But it’s not, it’s the memory of their History class.” Glóin pointed out. “I think it’s time we gave them a small History test, shall we?” 

The dwarves started another fight. Thorin could feel his patience slipping through his fingers like a wet soap bar during a bath, disappearing all at once in the water. 

“Stop!” He turned to the foreigners. “You better give us a reason to keep you around, now.”

“We aren’t sure of anything, since we are a day early, things change as easy as that.” Velaar went up to them.

“How could you have such a precise notion of when we should leave Beorn’s house? It makes no sense, no History book is that precise when it comes to expeditions such as ours.” Balin interjected. “Just give us a general idea of how things go.”

“Well, you lose the path… and things go bad from there, evil things lurk here.”

“Very evil.” Lumi agreed.

Thorin sighed, this was going to be a bloody mess. They kept on walking, hyper aware of the fact that they could lose the path. 

* * *

✵✵✵✵

## Barvo

Just like every other time, we lost the pathway. I was not surprised with that and I found myself constantly patting my lips and knocking the wood. I tried doing it on a tree, but it felt sick to its very core and it did not soothe me.

I was starving, the only food that was left was dried fruits and it was not very substantial when you were walking five miles and a half everyday. The days and the forest were both endless. It was almost boring if it was not this scary. 

Starvation and sleep deprivation (do not blame me, it is hard to sleep in a cursed forest) were not fun and made me hallucinate a lot. Sometimes I was sure that I could see my mother, waving at me. Sometimes I saw drones being remotely controlled by weird looking clowns. They laughed at me, they would tell in a singsong rhythm how I did not fit in and I felt like throwing up more than once. 

My heart felt heavy and I felt less and less inclined to interact with others. I felt exceedingly lonely and I knew that distancing myself from them would only aggravate that. But I did not have the energy to do it. It just felt pointless and I was numb inside. I do not know, it was weird, I felt empty, really empty and nothing made sense anymore, like why spend time with them if they do not remember? Why bother if I would soon die, anyway? 

I patted three times on my lips and knocked thrice on the wooden eagle, then I spit three times on my shoulder (I only did the gesture, mind you. I was not looking forward to having saliva on my shirt).

In the beginning, when I started getting underfed, it felt horrible. At first, my head would spin and my skull would throb, my stomach growled and then it started burning, the rations really were not enough. However, as days passed by, my body got used to the small portions of food it got everyday. I still felt a weird disconnection with the world and sleep was hard to get, and of course there were also the hallucinations. 

My sister and the others started trying to get close to me after a while, but I would always shoot them out. I did not need all of that judgy thing they did because they disapproved of my coping mechanism. They did not understand what it felt like, how tiring it was to feel all the time. It was always like that with me, extreme emotions that did not give me a break. They were too intense, they were too much. So I learned to shut them down, believe me, is easier than actually feeling things. After a while, they all gave up and left me on my own. It only made me feel worse, yet I could not help but keep self isolating. I was willingly ostracising myself but I felt like there was nothing to do about it.

What I was not expecting, was that even part of the company would get involved in my stuff. They forced me to stay close and never left me alone, which was getting on my nerves. As if it was a cue they were waiting for, my friends started coming back too, stronger willed than ever. I hated every minute of it, feeling guilt flood my heart, I was wasting everybody's time, really.

I slowly got used to it and started coming out of my bubble of self-pity. That was when I started to notice things. First, even though I did not see clearly, I could see everybody’s outline and they looked sickly thin. Not again, I thought to myself.

“I am hungry.” I told Alê.

“Yeah, I heard you the first fifty times you told me.” 

“Everybody is hungry. Well, starving.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I think I am dying.” 

She looked at me and held my sleeve. She looked on edge. If I remember well, everybody did.

“Where is your wooden thing?”

“Hm?”

“Do it.”

I knew what she was talking about and I did.

“The spitting too, we are in a cursed forest, one can never be too careful.”

I did as she asked and she let go of me. The tension and irritability caused by starvation was palpable.

 _“Wow, did you see that, Velaar? Seems like Alê and Barvo were having a deep conversation.”_ Fíli laughed.

I frowned, very confused and looked at Velaar, a question mark painted on my face. Velaar just shook her head. However, I could see she looked hurt, or at the very least scared. 

_“Oh, stop. Just say it already, Vel!”_ Kíli went along with his brother. 

_“Barvo and Alê are siblings in arms.”_

What on Ager was that about?

 _“I think we are walking in circles!”_ Bilbo shouted as the tension between Kíli, Fíli and Velaar grew.

 _“Are you okay, Fíli?”_ I asked, truly concerned.

 _“Yes, sorry, I just find that teasing her is funny. You know we are joking, right Velaar?”_ Fíli smiled slyly. 

I looked at Velaar again and she did not seem amused. I sighed, there was so much I had to deal with right now. Of course they had to add this up.

_“Okay, then stop. Is she laughing?”_

_“N-no?”_

_“Where I come from, we have a saying: A joke is funny if everybody laughs. If you are laughing and she is not, maybe you are upsetting her.”_

_“Are you really going to talk to me about your time? Your time is too soft, filled with weird policies and… and filters!”_

Before I knew it, half the company agreed with Fíli and the other half stayed in silence.

 _“Well, because we realised that laughing at the expense of hurting someone was bad.”_ Lumi defended.

I was surprised by her speaking out about that. In Hibera, the common belief was that stopping a joke because it hurt someone was just stupid. Actually it was not only viewed as stupid, it was considered to be censorship. Whereas in Polist, it was the opposite, really. Or used to be, when the country was less divided. 

_“We realised that usually when we made a joke and laughed at someone, that someone was a minority and an easier target. We realised that those harmless jokes actually could hurt a whole group of people.”_

_“Oh, come on that’s a bit much for just a bit of teasing, no?”_ Dwalin frowned.

 _“Let me put it in a way that will get through your thick skulls: At some point in time, there was a joke that said dwarves were greedy, but I think you know that. When in need because a dragon…"_ Lumi paused as the dwarves looked tense, but they allowed her to keep speaking. 

_"When a dragon invaded their home, nobody came to the rescue because people had warned the dwarves that they were greedy and it would attract bad things. So it was their fault the dragon came anyway, and they should solve it on their own.”_

I noticed how a few of them, namely, Dori, Dwalin, Balin and Thorin tensed their jaws in anger. I was just awkwardly standing by her side, waiting for it to be over.

_“Yet they disregarded the whole dwarven culture as if your love for gold was just out of greed and not because it is how you mark your existence in the world. Because you love your craft and your metal works and gold just happens to be one of the few metals to not oxidize and to last longer. Am I right?"_

They all nodded, a bit confused, Thorin was not looking very happy. I looked down, feeling uncomfortable.

 _"You know nothing of our culture, foreigner."_ He growled. _"You know nothing of our struggles either. And I don’t see your point in the matter.”_

There was something on the ground, it looked like strings close together.

_"I wasn't finished. My point is that it may have started as a joke, but in the end people used it to justify Smaug’s violence and they turned you away…This kind of joke starts is in fact a way to veil and even promote prejudice.”_

I started to follow the strings with my eyes… 

_“so you see…”_

“Holy fuck, the webs.” I interjected, realising too late that I had said it out loud, they all looked at me.

We had forgotten about the spiders, what a bunch of stupid, stupid people. That was an A-class rookie mistake. 

_“Where is Bilbo?”_ Thorin suddenly asked.

I started feeling panicky.

“Guys… the spi-” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger.
> 
> If you are wondering why Thorin is nicer to the elves, I thought it would be logical that even though they are elves, he does see himself in them. They were stripped of their home like he was. Mostly Alê, I think, since she stayed and all.
> 
> Yes, they did not fall on the river because they are early and the deer would appear the next day. 
> 
> You are probably wondering why they had never gone earlier before, seeing as they must’ve gotten injured at some point in other times. Well, before, whenever one of the time travelers got hurt, they would simply throw themselves into danger and die so when they would be back they would be fine. Now they can’t use that anymore. So they are forced to deal with their problems instead of going back. 
> 
> Okay, I am going to be honest, I did not want to make it explicit about what is going on between Alê and Velaar and I wanted it to be subtle enough that the others would not get it, but obvious enough that you would get it. So I kinda wanted you guys to notice on your own (please tell me you did), but they like each other. And about Fíli, he really does not realise what he is saying, he did notice they have a very deep bond and he gets that Velaar does not like to be taunted, but he truly thinks that... well, that it is just a game. He does not think it would be possible for Velaar to be in love with Alê. 
> 
> I think Fíli and Kíli have good hearts, really I do. But I think that Fíli would feel so pressured by society that he would probably project that and do that to other people. Or even he just doesn't realise he could be hurting someone. I think he would not be as in touch with his feelings and probably the same would happen with other people's feelings.
> 
> Oh, by the way: leave kudos and a comment if you like my work (I mean, if you want to, feel free to). Check my tumblr if you want to send me a message: Alex-Spring-Flowers.


	14. Thranduil, the king with the bitch resting face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spiders, elves, being captured, a bit of singing. I mean a lot. But I cut this chapter in two 'cause it was too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back after having given myself some time to get better! So, about the chapter: WARNING I am using something specific to Brazilian culture and yes, I did stick another culture into a fictional world. BUT it is not my invention (sure, I did twist it so it could fit the narrative) and I would hate, and I mean hate if people thought it was mine, because it is not. I deserve no credit for the woodland demon and stuff. I used the Brazilian folklore: Curupira (or Caipora depending on the region).

## Fíli

Barvo had been a pain during the whole path through Mirkwood. He thought that Bifur’s gift would have been useful for something. It was not the case. Or maybe it would have been worse, Fíli reasoned. They were almost always clutching the thing. _A lot of bad thoughts, then._ It was not a good thing on Fíli's account. Barvo sang of monsters killing children without flinching. Whatever scared them was not to be taken lightly. 

They kept isolating themselves, which was ridiculous. Who was that person? It could not be Barvo. Barvo had a thing for sticking on people’s shoes like gum. Fíli made a face, how unbearable. Even her friends were being completely ignored. That was when he started getting requests from them, for him to try to get Barvo to talk or at least try to be part of their group. Bifur had asked him if he was sure that wood was the way to go with Barvo’s gift. Maybe they had been offended with the toy, maybe they considered it too childish. Fíli had assured him it was not the case. At least that was what he hoped, he was the one to give the idea of the gift.

Then even Dwalin and Bilbo suggested that he tried to get something out of them. Fíli asked Kíli if he could do it, but he answered him that he had to help Será to get through the woods. She was injured, he reminded him, “and Barvo is in that state while Dwalin is helping Thorin make sense of things so I’m the one who must help. The others are too affected.” He had told him.

He sighed, thinking, _there goes nothing._

He did the unexpected: he decided it was payback time and stuck on Barvo’s shoes. Which clearly annoyed them, it was all very ironic. It took a few days for Barvo to suck it up and accept that he was not leaving them alone.

“What is going on with you?” He asked one night, when Barvo went to sleep slightly further apart from the rest. 

Barvo sighed and stayed in silence 

He would not have cared that much if it was not for the fact that they were putting themselves in danger. Objectively speaking, it would not make much of a difference in the greater scheme of things. However, he did not need more weight in his heart, and guilt tended to be quite heavy, or so he was told. 

“Come on.” He offered his hand to help them stand up and guide them closer to the night camp.

He was not sure if they were purposely ignoring him or if they simply did not see his hand at all. He touched their shoulder and they flinched. He sighed.

“Barvo, I know you, you are no coward.”

“You don’t. You don’t know me and maybe that’s the problem.” It almost sounded like a whimper.

“W-what does that mean?”

“Nothing” They answered somberly.

Fíli simply stormed off after that. What was their problem? But guilt made him think before really leaving them there. He rolled his eyes and called for Dwalin to help him convince thy highness to join them. If not, they could always drag them.

“What is it?” Dwalin followed him.

Fíli stopped at Barvo’s feet, they were lying in a fetal position. He pointed at the big self-pity mass that constituted Barvo. Dwalin grunted in understanding.

“What are you doing, Barvo?” He asked.

They stayed in silence.

“Call Bilbo.” Dwalin suggested.

“What? Why?”

“He is a bit more... knowledgeable in their language.”

Fíli shrugged and went to get Bilbo. Bilbo was almost completely blinded by the darkness and so Fíli had to guide him and it took him a bit longer.

“Oh, hello Barvo.” Bilbo was met with silence. “You need to get closer to us, it’s dangerous to wander alone, especially in the woods.”

The company followed his lead and Thorin got annoyed, telling them “If they want to die, leave them to it. They are not of our concern in the moment.” 

After that, the dwarves dispersed, but they kept taking silent glances at Barvo. They were just a young dwarf after all. It was exactly because of that that Fíli decided to overrule Thorin’s order. 

He approached them slowly.

“Listen, you don’t have to do it for me, or for you. But maybe think of your sister,” It was weird to say such a thing, “she is injured and she needs you. I heard you had also someone to come back to once this is all over.” 

Barvo stopped breathing, then they turned a little bit in his direction, he counted any movement as a win.

“How?”

“What?”

“Do you know?”

“Oh… I-I heard Dwalin saying something about it and Nori too…” 

“Hm…” They slowly turned around, stood and walked into the night camp, not before turning to Fíli, waiting for him.

It was then that Fíli had realised Barvo could not have been as young as they told the company. Maybe they had no beard, but he had seen them shaving it, so who knows? Their eyes also told him they had seen more years than just nineteen. 

After that night, Barvo started to act like their old self, pretending that nothing had happened. That was strange. 

The company started talking to them and then even the other travelers started coming back. 

Fíli never got the answer to what he wanted to know. He only got more questions instead. At least Barvo seemed to be doing better even though they were starving. 

Then two days afterwards, they were fighting, again. Fíli was just making a joke, it is not as if Velaar and Alê actually had a thing going on between them. He knew that they were close, like sisters. He got that, they were like fighting partners or whatever. Why get mad at that? It was just a bit of teasing. 

Apparently there were a lot of reasons why they did not find the joke funny. Fíli did get their point, but did Lumi really need to mention Erebor and Smaug’s destruction? He was about to tell her something...

Suddenly Barvo interjected what Fíli assumed was a curse. He was not feeling confident about that, Barvo had been on edge and they knew that something bad was lurking in the forest, they also made a whole lot of noise and Fíli felt something not unlike worry hurting his heart. They had given their location on a silver platter. Why get political now? Seriously, Fíli.

Then Bilbo disappeared and they were almost eaten by spiders. 

For time-travelers, they were not very useful with the whole foretelling thing.

* * *

✵

## Alelebela 

Alê never lied when it came about talking about her faith. She was not ashamed, there was no reason to be. And if she was being honest, most people in Polist believed in Cordegai in some way, even Barvo and they were an atheist. Cordegai was the spirit that protected any forest and wood. He looked like a child with flaming red hair, sometimes people told her he had red skin as well, with a set of green teeth and his feet were backward. Sometimes he would appear riding a wild boar. He lured intruders deep into the forest, until they got lost and he would enchant them to never get out. Once he was done with his little game, he would smash their heads with a branch until they were dead. But, if you bring an offering, you should be fine (as long as you don’t take more from the forest than it can give you) as long as you did not kill an animal for any other reason than basic survival needs.

So you see, Alê knew something was going to happen. Of course Cordegai would come and bring them bad luck. She had forgotten to give their offering. She had kept it a secret too, thinking it would probably be even more of a downer. 

Why had she gone in the woods without an offering? What was she thinking?! Ugh, it was all Thorin's fault. 

Even Barvo was on edge and she would bet her own ass and say it was Cordegai’s doing. She had always given an offering before entering Mirkwood, every single time. But now that they had gone early, she had not had time to prepare it. Cordegai was hexing the heck out of their asses. 

Sure, it had happened before, Alê running from gigantic disgusting spiders. But, worse things could happen now. Barvo was down and Alê thought it would be best if she was able to get away before they all got captured (you never know what Cordegai might have planned for them). She was going to save them with Bilbo, it was the best course of action she could think of. 

Velaar would probably be proud of her actually making some plans instead of just being passive to her surroundings. Which reminded her, Velaar was not with her, she was probably frozen in place. She was probably thinking how she had gotten distracted and forgotten about the spider and it was their last shot to make it right. In Velaar’s defense (and everybody else’s), people always got more distracted when doing something they had done thousands of times. 

She tracked back, it was dark and her vision was way worse than the dwarves. Sure, she could see a few glowing eyes and outlines. She thought maybe her heart would be the one to guide her to Velaar. 

_Ugh, what a cheesy thought,_ she thought. 

Once she got back, she could not find anybody. Oh, she was in so much trouble. So, so much trouble. Lost in the middle of Mirkwood. Oh great, so much for making right their last chance.

“Vel-” She stopped herself from calling Velaar by putting a hand in front of her mouth.

She waited in the dark for a while, she was not sure for how long. But suddenly she heard a piercing noise of something metallic falling. She thought it was strange, the sound should have been muffled by the moss on the ground. However, she was not surprised, her hearing had changed a lot since she became an elf. She saw something glowing in the pitch darkness. It must have been the thing that made the noise.Even though the object glowed, it felt like the atmosphere became gloomier. She only knew of one thing that was with them that had that power, and that was the Ring. She wondered if she should go and get it, nobody was watching anyway. She definitely should not leave it at the spider’s reach. It was not as if she was going to steal it for herself. _Bad, Alê_ , she thought to herself, _you know it’s the Ring tempting you._ She looked back at it, it would not harm anyone if she could take just a look… It was on the ground, right there. 

She focused her eyes on it, and noticed something, a weird giant bug coming close to it. Gross. She heard a loud bellow, and scared, she looked where the scream had come from. It was Bilbo, she had found Bilbo! 

Her heart filled with joy and she was sure everything was going to be fine. Maybe someone else had thought of giving an offering. She could laugh out of sheer happiness! 

Until her heart dropped when she saw how Bilbo decimated the bug with too many hits and took the shiny thing in his pocket. She knew her mouth was agape but she could not close it for the life of her. Okay, so maybe nobody else had remembered about the offering. What a bunch of incompetent people.

“Holy fu-” Her eyes widened.

Maybe it was best if she left Bilbo on his own for a while. It would be safer, to give him a bit of space, she decided. It had nothing to do with her being absolutely terrified that Bilbo would bring the wrath of Cordegai on them. Maybe he was already being possessed. Why did she not give the damn offering? She started taking a few steps back, she needed to find Velaar asap. 

* * *

✵✵

When Alê finally found Velaar, there was a massive fight against spiders going on. Of course the elves finally decided to appear in the last minute. Did people in the past have an obsession with grandiose entrances? Because she was down to follow that trend. 

She was glad with the elves' presence, though. It was as if the gloom and darkness of the wood had dissipated little by little as they chased the spiders away. Once they were gone, Alê felt as if a dark veil had been lifted from her face.

Alê noticed this was another troop of elves. Legolas, the prince of Mirkwood, was fighting among a few other elves she had never seen before. To be honest, she had no idea he was around at this time. Of course, Peter Jackson had put him in his movies, but that was a huge historical inaccuracy. Literally, she had no idea where he had come up with the idea of putting him in the movies from. She literally had lived it, so she knew he was not supposed to be there. Did one day really change that many things?

She also found out that there really was an elf called Tauriel, but her appearance was very different from the movies. She did have large green eyes and bright red hair but her skin was dark and it glowed like a starry night. It was the first time she had seen a black person in Middle Earth, if you did not count her and her friends. And Kíli seemed… not interested? Well, as interested as anybody else was to be honest. But that was a normal reaction to Tauriel’s presence, so Alê was not sure if the little glances he gave her should be considered interest.

Peter Jackson might have created a historically inaccurate romance between them, but oh, she was in it for it. It was strange, seeing them like this, so unaware that one day people would randomly ship them together. 

She looked at Legolas, he was a God of beauty and perfection, she freaked out. He had been her sexual awakening. And Tauriel had been her bisexual awakening, and God, she was so much prettier in real life. Alê wanted to say that she would gladly go with them. But the company probably would get offended, so she stopped herself from commenting anything.

Velaar looked at her, as excited as she was. She was not the only one crushing hard on Legolas. 

They split their group, as usual, and they locked the dwarves in jail. While Velaar, her and Thorin were brought down at the feet of Thranduil. The elves took Será in a different place, they were probably going to check out on her injuries post being bitten by the spider with a huge head injury. It did not seem like a nice combination. Barvo was probably upset that they took their sister away from them. 

She remembered how she hated this part of their journey and she felt anxiety taking over her. Every time they met, Thranduil accused them of treason and they were locked with the rest of the company. She hated staying in a prison. No matter how much Lumi tried to paint it in a brighter light. While they were given food, she was not sure it was worth living behind bars. It felt oddly similar to being a parrot exposed in a cage. 

In Polist, they had so many beautiful and colorful parrots flying freely, living their lives. She used to see them all the time, then she went to Hibera and no colour could be found, just sad little greyish birds. Until one day, she went to a petstore and found the parrots from her homeland locked in a cage, sad and silent. She decided she prefered living in Hibera with grey little birds and no colours than having all the colours of the rainbow and putting the parrots in cages. They were meant to fly, to be free. She was meant to be free. 

_“What are these young elves doing with you, Thorin Oakenshield?”_

That was the part where he would say ‘They are part of my company, I guess even the elves prefer to serve me, an exiled king rather than a dishonorable kind such as yourself.’ with a smug face. Alê always wondered if it was out of pride of having made elves betray Thranduil, or if it was because he really wanted them to suffer as much as the rest of the company.

 _“They were our hostages, in case you did this.”_ Thorin answered. _“then we would’ve cut their throats.”_

“What the ever loving fuck?! What?!” She turned angrily at Thorin.

What was he talking about?

Both of the kings looked at her and she felt the stare Velaar was giving her. Thranduil narrowed his eyes at the outburst, as if to say ‘curious’ but then he dropped it, looking back at Thorin.

_“So they were not willingly helping you to cross Greenwood?”_

_“Why would any elf do that?”_

Things were changing, she realised she had never heard that conversation before, which did not happen often. It was refreshing, being lost in what was happening. She felt relief. Then fear, she realised she did not know what was going to happen. For once she could have a chance to change the jail thing. She was not a fan, not at all.

_“A young and impressionable elf, such as these. No matter, why did you think I would care if you slit their throats? I have never seen these elves before. They are not from here, I heard their strange tongue just now.”_

“Strange é ta mãe, you son of a-”

“Alê! Compose yourself!” Velaar told her.

“Are you freaking kidding me? I took so much bullshit, so, so much bullshit because you told me to. Now it’s my turn and we are doing things my way!”

“Okay, but maybe offending the elven king is not the way to go? I know you hate the jail part of our journey.”

Maybe Alê had oversighted this slight detail.

 _“I have to say this is quite entertaining.”_ Thranduil sounded amused.

_“They come from the future.”_

And with that, Alê heard Thranduil’s laugh for the very time. The most disturbing thing was not that the king with the worst bitch resting face was laughing, no, that was fine. What was strange was that his court was laughing with him, as if on cue. It was very… uncanny? Yes, she would go with that.

_“I see your exile has driven you mad, Thorin Oakenshield.”_

_“Well, it was Gandalf who informed me of such a thing.”_

The elf stopped laughing and the cackling in the room subsided. 

_“What do you say?”_

_“You heard what I said.”_

_“And Gandalf agreed with the idea of you keeping these elves as hostages?”_

_“He did not know, he thought they would be useful and then we’d leave them at your care.”_

Thranduil looked torn, not very sure on how to proceed. Alê felt hope rising as she understood what Thorin was trying to achieve, he wanted to keep them free. Maybe he was getting better. Maybe pity was the key to compassion, maybe not. It was not a nice feeling to be at his mercy, but at least this time he was making a goo-

_“Hm… I can see they are surprised by your words, whi_ _ch can only mean you lie.”_

_“I do not lie.”_ Thorin raised his chin, refusing to let an elf win this argument.

 _“Yes, you do.”_ Thranduil approached him, striding with all of his grace, it looked like he was almost dancing.

Puffing up his chest, a bit like a scared cat trying to assert dominance and look bigger, Thorin frowned. 

He hissed, _“If I do, you are one to talk, you little ba-”_

 _“We did accompany him voluntarily.”_ Alê interrupted Thorin, Velaar was right, insulting the elven king was not the way to go.

“What are you doing?” Velaar looked scared, “Do not get involved!”

“I’m writing my own narrative. It’s our future they are deciding right now, Vel! Not Middle-Earth’s, ours. I will not live in a cage one day more. You said you would let me try my way, this is my way.” Velaar recoiled but nodded anyway.

Honestly, Alê was sick of listening to everybody and letting them do whatever they wanted. It was not her choice to be there, but damn it if she would not fight with all of what she had for Freedom. She would not be contained.

 _“What do you say, elfling? Are you confessing to being an accessory of Thorin’s crimes?”_ Thranduil raised a brow and Thorin frowned, _“Do try to be concise and go to the point, your speech is a tad… rudimentary?”_ He made circular gestures with his index, warning Alê to get on with it.

How very rude.

 _“Which crimes? We came voluntarily, because, as Thorin said, we come from the future and… and we wanted to see our ancestral home.”_ what a load of bullshit.

Thankfully, being a theater major and an actually decent liar (years of practice, it often got her out of a lot of troubles), she knew she could pull it off, as long as the king did not ask Velaar anything. Velaar was a terrible liar.

Thranduil’s raised eyebrows turned into a frown. _Calm down, he can hear your heartbeat_. She put in practice did the little trick Barvo had taught her on how to slow her breathing and her heart pulse. She looked at Velaar, even she could hear her heart from where she stood (granted, she was right beside her, but still). She did not care, maybe the king would understand they understood what was at stake if they failed to convince him.

_“Oh?”_

_“Yes, and he said”_ Alê gestured with her head. _“That he was going to help us get to you, if we helped him and his company with our foreknowledge.”_

_“Is that so? Prove to me you are no charlatan trying to pass through my lands and help dwarves without any consequence.”_

Prove… What could she do to prove anything? She prayed that Peter Jackson was right on one account and one account alone. She looked at Velaar who immediately knew what she was going to say and shook her head multiple times.

_“Your son is… how to say it… infatuated with a silvan elf named Tauriel, I think?”_

The king’s eyes widened and he started going red. She could see Velaar dropping her head on the corner of her eyes. They both flinched when the king started cackling and the whole court started cackling as well.

_“They are quite amusing… we will keep them. You shall be part of my court and tell me the tales of the future and what await us.”_

A knot dissolved in her stomach and Alê could finally breathe.

“Wait!” Velaar told her. “Alê, I know I said we’d do things your way this time… but listen to me, it will be easier for us to… you know” The word escape was too close to archaic, so Velaar could not actually say it “if we are together, it will be easier for Bilbo to find us.”

“Easier for us to be at his mercy, sometimes we need backup plans and not rely solely on one person alone. This is how you get success. I have a plan, Vel.”

She did not mention that Bilbo was losing his mind and they would probably have to come up with an escape plan of their own.

“I trust you.” She smiled brightly as if she was proud of doing so.

Her smile made Alê’s heart skip a beat, it warmed up and melted. It was Velaar's first smile in a long time, and she found herself smiling back. Legolas and Tauriel could not hold a candle to her smile. It was just too darning beautiful.

* * *

✵✵✵

## Fíli

* * *

_They had been put together with Kíli. So it was just the three of them. Across from them was Lumi, all on her own. Barvo wanted to stay in the same cell as Lumi but they had refused, saying it was inappropriate for a male and a female to stay in the same cell alone. Barvo snorted at that rolled their eyes._

_“What is it? They are right, Barvo… it’s understandable.” Kíli interjected._

_“This is stupid! First, our cell are right across from Lumi, we wouldn’t fuck at all but even if we wanted to, we certainly wouldn’t do it if you two can watch.” Barvo frowned._

_Kíli widened his eyes and Fíli felt his heart stopping._

_“Who taught you this word?”_

_“Language!” They heard Dwalin’s voice not far from them. So he was not far from here._

_“Lumi did.” Barvo shrugged._

_Fíli and Kíli shrieked at that, that was not lady-like at all. Bilbo would have thrown a fit if he ever caught his ward saying such things. However, there was Lumi, laughing in her cell, doubled down._

_“Second, I am not a male.”_

_“I mean… we know you are not… but… biologically, you have the strength of a male.” Kíli tried to be tactful._

_Lumi had explained to them how Barvo’s gender worked more or less. Fíli and Kíli did not fully understand it, but they could respect it, it was their culture after all. Lumi’s laughter became even more intense._

_“I don’t!”_

_“Yes, you do. There is literally nothing you can do about that.”_

_“Fíli, Kíli, not that it matters at all…” Dwalin’s voice echoed, “can I say it Barvo?”_

_“Whatever” they mumbled._

_“What was that?!”_

_“They said whatever.” Fíli answered._

_“What?!”_

_“They said whatever!” Lumi, Kíli and Fíli said in a chorus._

_“Oh, okay. Well, they were born female.”_

_Oh. OH._

_After that shock, Fíli just looked at he-them again and shook his head. This was bad, he had been locked up with a lady._

_Then Barvo burped, really, really loud. Then they said something along the lines of ‘I swear burping is the best feeling alongside shitting and pissing.’ and Fíli understood Barvo was still the same person they were before._

* * *

> _“Silence please,_
> 
> _While I try to forget the pain of heartbreak_
> 
> _Don’t tell me a thing about my mistakes_
> 
> _I don’t remember anymore who left me like this_
> 
> _Today all I want is a thousand bars’ rest_
> 
> _[...]”_

Barvo was murmuring a song. Fíli understood some of it, which he was proud of. Hearing Barvo singing had been a relief. But all of their songs were sad. He noticed they were quite different from anything he had ever heard before. Barvo told him it was a type of song from where they had come from.

> _“If you know everything, save it_
> 
> _If you don't know anything, be quiet._
> 
> _And if needed I’ll say it again._
> 
> _Because today I will sing,_
> 
> _In my own way, I will sing_
> 
> _A song about infinity_
> 
> _[...]”_
> 
> [ \- Para ver as meninas. Marisa Monte](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRZ_GStnku4)

“You said they would be back by now!” Dwalin told Barvo.

“Well, sometimes things change. This time I think it was a big one.” Lumi answered instead, she then made a face, as if she did not like that fact that she had said such a thing.

"What do you mean?" Fíli got closer to the door. 

“Eh… nothing? I meant nothing… how silly of me.”

“We lived through this already.” Barvo sat down and kept doing their business as if they had just said it would probably rain the following day. “Maybe they changed the timeline, it’s all. I am sick of being here already and it doesn't help that we already lived through all of this.”

_“Barvo! I can’t believe you right now, what is wrong with you?”_

Fíli rested his forehead on the bars of their cell and he laughed.

“This doesn’t work anymore. We understand your ‘modern’ westron. Hibero, is it?”

“Neutral.” They both answered. 

“We use neutral to talk to each other.” Barvo explained.

“I see.”

“Hang on… what do you mean when you say you already lived through this?” Kíli interrupted their discussion.

“Several times, even.” 

“Would you care to explain?” Kíli turned to Barvo. 

They were sitting on the same bed.

“Everything you are living now, we lived it too, several times.”

“What happened?” Dwalin sounded concerned.

Fíli was too, but mostly with Barvo's mental state.

“We died.”

Fíli's and Kíli's eyebrows rose to their hairline. They jumped a few steps back from Barvo, in fear. They might be crazy, but Fíli was not about to risk it.

“Are you ghosts?” Kíli interjected.

“We… we are not. I think. I never thought about it. Every time we died, we came back. But now we are… Well, let’s just say we are not as young as we used to be and death is at the corner for some of us. This is our last time living through this. If we die now, we are not coming back.” Lumi decided to take over.

“And what happens if you die?”

“Then you fail, kind of. I can’t tell you more.” She looked apologetic.

“How can we know this is true?” Fíli asked and Dwalin grunted in agreement.

“We can’t prove you anything…” Lumi started then stopped. “Wait, I know how: Dwalin, you told us once that you believed in the fact that we were humans before we showed proof but you preferred to keep it to yourself.”

Dwalin’s eyes widened.

“Fíli said he hates when Thorin tries to cook for them to help Lady Dís.” Barvo joined in. 

“H-how?” Fíli muttered.

“Because you told me in another timeline. Like I said, I know you. You don't know me."

It all dawned on him. This was what they meant.

"Am I the one you need to come back home to?"

Barvo widened their eyes and went red then looked at Lumi as if they were having a mental breakdown.

"I think that's a no, brother."

"Is it?"

"Yes, that is no! I need to come back for my family, why would I come back for you? I was talking of my brother." They shivered.

"You don't need to act like it's gross either!" Fíli scrunched up his face.

"Well, it is. You are mean to me. I don't have poor taste in people like this." Barvo stated matter of factually.

"Facts!" Lumi agreed from afar.

“Wait, are you telling me you died many times? Is that why Lumi was feeling faint at the concave in the misty mountains?” Dwalin voiced.

“Yes.” Barvo answered as they stood up and gently pushed Fíli to the side. "Lumi, don't you think they are very late now?"

"Yes, at least an hour… I think they might arrive at…"

Then there was a loud sound of feet moving in their direction. Soon, the captain of the guard came and took Lumi out of her cell without any explanation. She gave a glance at Kíli who glanced back. They all just looked at Barvo.

“You said that they were coming down?” Fíli frowned.

“I guess things did change a lot.” Barvo turned and sat down again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I thought it would be nice to give you guys a bit of an update: I am starting to feel so much better and I feel the stupidity of what I'm writing coming back (Hallelujah!). I'm sorry if my last post kind of depressed you. So, basically I was not doing great and neither was my family (still is not doing great, but well, let's try to live through this). My sleep deprivation got so bad that I could not stand up without feeling dizzy or nauseous. So, yeah, not great. I am still in deep shit, but I finally got a few hours of sleep and I am so happy to be able to stand and not feel like dying (do not recommend this). Listen, I did a lot of sleeping therapy for years and sometimes I unfortunately get setbacks… Like, not sleeping for three days kind of setback. Seriously though, never do this, don't even try. If you can sleep, please do, cause not being able to sleep when you really need to is a true nightmare. I digress, what I mean to say is, I finally have my mind in the right place. But I still have huge essays to write, so… you know, my updates might be slower, but I’m so glad I am finally getting there.
> 
> A bit about history (I totally made that up): The word cordegai is an ambiguous word in Polist because there are four possible translations: happy heart or body of a child, or even Heart of a child or happy body. But it would make more sense that it means the body of a child or heart of a child, taking in consideration the demon's appearance. Polist anthropologists believe that the tales of this creature started being told after men saw the Ents awakening (or at least what they thought to be the Ent’s awakening) and grew to fear the woods even more, creating this story to scare children away from the forest. Polist has a longer war history than Hibera, mostly because they kept a lot of the Gondorian culture. Which explains why they still believe in this tale while Hibera does not use it anymore. Although it still can be found in Hibera’s earliest manuscripts, under the name ‘corpus di gaja’, which hints that the most correct translation is ‘body’ and not ‘heart’, although it seems in Hibero, the translation is “body of a woman”, leaving a lot of questions about this creature. Another theory on why Polist kept those tales is that Polist has much denser woods than Hibera, where most of her woods has been burnt down.


	15. Call me a fool... like, literally a fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo finds his way. And Lumi talks with a asshole aka Thranduil. Maybe Lumi talked too much to Gandalf and his enigmatic talk started rubbing on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I erased my rant because I felt like there is no need to keep it there as things are getting better :3 . So chapter 14 is an actual chapter now (UHU). If you haven’t read it because you thought it was just me reposting it or whatever, then I advise you to read it. I mean, if you don’t want to be lost in this chapter. And the Ring is making Bilbo a little bit insane. But I am blaming his fast descent into madness on the state of Mirkwood. It will change, OKAY? I revised this chapter quite a few times but there might still be some mistakes.
> 
> Okay, I suck, I'm sorry. I thought I had written a thank you note but I didn't... I wanted to thank you for the support that you gave me when I posted my rant and tell you that it actually made my day. Before, I wasn't sure anybody liked my work or if it was just a bunch of pity kudos because I am not a great writer. For those who commented such nice things, you really warmed my heart <3

## Lumi

Lumi did not get the time to understand what was going on before she was brought to King Thranduil himself. It was the first time she saw him at this point of their journey. He was very impressive in his throne of vines. His face was impassive and his eyes were just as cold as she remembered. His long silky hair almost touched the ground when he sat. His crown made him look like a stag with small antlers. She kept that thought to herself. A stag riding a stag, what a weird thought. 

_"So this is what a hobbit-lady looks like. Tis a very boring look."_ The King sighed.

 _Maybe if you chased the spiders with your troops instead of sitting all day on your throne, you wouldn't be counting that much on the appearance of a lady-hobbit to entertain you._ Lumi thought, but she held her tongue. Years of practice had taught her that rubbing the truth on someone's face was not worth it if it was likely to get you killed over it.

 _"Aye, we are very humble creatures and I doubt that us… modest people could entertain a King such as yourself."_ She had practiced a lot of her speech, she hoped it would be good enough for him not to take offense.

He hummed and nodded _"I see."_

He made a gesture and a servant brought him wine. 

_"Would you care to join me?"_

The servant then made his way toward her and filled her a cup. She hesitated to accept the offer, the cup was ridiculously huge in her hands. _Was it a test? Or if I do not accept it, will I offend him?_

 _"Is it ill-advised for your people to drink?"_ Thranduil raised a brow.

 _"Excuse me, I was just taken by surprise."_ She decided taking the cup was the right option.

She really hoped it was not poisoned. She was not a fan of dying. She raised her cup, she had never done a toast, she had never gotten the chance, she had heard it a few times but she had forgotten it. So she decided to go with Hibera's ways and she said something along the lines of 'for your health'. She took a sip and her eyes widened and she stared at the cup. It was fruity but she could also feel a strong taste of wood, indicating it had stayed in a barrel for quite a long time and it was a very strong drink. She decided she liked it.

 _"I see you have better manners than the two other elflings… maybe you should teach them how to behave properly."_ He commented as he raised his cup and repeated what she had said, taking a sip.

She wanted to shrug but held it back. Apparently, Bilbo's lessons had paid off quite well. 

_"Your speech is more refined than… what was her name? Alelebela?"_

Lumi nodded. 

_"Tis her name. If you do not mind, your Hi…, I mean, your Majesty,"_ _Highness is for a prince, Majesty is for a King,_ she reminded herself, _"I wish to ask you a question."_

The King nodded, eyebrows raised.

_"You talked of two elflings, but there were three."_

He smiled and set his cup down. 

_"Hobbits are very perceptive creatures, I see."_ He commented, _"Yes, I only spoke to two of them and your King."_

Her King? So it was a test. The wine was like a truth serum, she guessed. Strong enough to make her trip over her words. Maybe it was spiked. However, she felt normal, maybe her college parties made her alcohol tolerance skyrocket. She did not feel dizzy or anything. Or at least she thought she was not.

_"Thorin is not my King."_

Thranduil nodded at that.

 _"The third elfling was bitten by a spider and it looks like she had a head injury."_ He sounded almost dangerous now. _"It was not an injury caused by the spiders… it looked like someone tried to bash her head."_

Was he implying it was her doing? 

_"Your majesty, it was the work of some goblins we faced in the misty mountains. We have been trying to heal her."_

_"Then why would you bring her in this state to the Greenwoods?"_ He straightened up, gripping the arms of his throne.

 _"We thought you could do more than Beorn, the skin-changer, could and she is family. I am not happy about leaving my family behind."_ She needed to find a good enough reason for Thranduil to believe that she was with the dwarves for no other reason than obligation. _“It was her dream to meet with her kin. She was bitten but is she well?"_

His grip tensed up for a bit then it released.

_"She is healing. What do you mean, she is family?"_

She had sparked his curiosity again. But she was not in the mood to entertain it, she needed to know about Será.

_"Is she awake?"_

_"First, you answer me, halfling."_ He was not having it.

Lumi did not have time or energy to explain anything to the King. 

_"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."_ It was her answer and she deemed it perfect. Although it was not completely true, she missed her family more than anything.

_“You are vague… But I guess you did answer me. She is asleep, but she is healing. I hear she will make it perfectly fine.”_

Lumi sighed and nodded.

_“I am sorry, but why did you call for me?”_

_“I thought it to be rude to keep a guest in a cell.”_

Lumi had not expected that.

_“As long as you swear not to follow Thorin Oakenshield.”_

She was taken aback, it was not what she had expected at all. The thing was, she did follow Thorin, but not in the sense that she made part of the company. She pondered for a while and decided she should stick to her enigmatic answers.

_“I cannot swear to that, for I am here because I followed Thorin Oakenshield and his company. Tis his orders you must ask if I’ve followed.”_

_“Have you?”_ Thranduil interlocked his fingers and knitted his eyebrows.

_“When I deemed necessary.”_

_“And when was that?”_ He narrowed his eyes, his grip on the throne’s arms were tightening, Lumi noticed.

_“When there was not much room for questioning.”_

_“Will you just answer my questions?!”_ His voice rose as he lost his nerves.

_“I have.”_

_“Why do you speak like a wizard? Try to be clear when you talk, you are wasting my time and to waste a King’s time should not be taken lightly.”_ He stood up, inhaled a deep breath, and took another sip of his wine as he strode down the few steps that led to his throne.

He looked like a deranged man trying to calm himself down. Her being vague was not amusing him in the slightest. He took another sip, he really needed it to chill. Lumi remembered she too held a cup of wine. She took another sip as well. She felt warmth washing down her throat and warming up every single one of her muscles, it felt good. Mirkwood was damp and a bit cold, so the warmth was welcomed. She took another sip.

_“When our lives were at stake, your Majesty. That was when I did not question it, because I had no time to think. I had no choice but to follow.”_

_“Your answer is… satisfactory. You will find your belongings in your chambers, your companions should be there already.”_

Her cup slipped from her fingers and the sound echoed through the walls. Lumi stared at the King. He stared back at her. She opened her mouth, silence, nothing came out of it.

 _“Take her.”_ He ordered. _“The time-travelers are to amuse me during dinner.”_

She had been promoted from prisoner to a court jester, she was not sure she loved it. More importantly, had he called her a time-traveler? 

_What had they done?_

As she was being led to her ‘chambers’, she felt reality crashing down on her. If they were there, how would they find Bilbo? How would Bilbo find them? She shivered, this was going to be a mess.

* * *

✵

## Bilbo

Bilbo was feeling faint in the forest, he needed light, he needed sun, or the moon, or stars, or anything that shone in the sky, really. He needed air and he knew they all needed to know where they were. They started fighting and Bilbo could not care less.

“I think we are walking in circles!” He shouted, “If I climb these trees and I go above the canopy, I could tell you which direction to follo…” they were deep in their discussion, “and you are not listening.” He put his hands in his waist and stomped his foot twice to no avail. 

“Come on, guys…” Bilbo tried to get someone’s attention, anyone’s really. 

Well, he looked at the canopy. He could do it, he could climb up, get back down and tell them which direction to go. They probably would not even notice he was gone, anyway.

He started climbing, it was tougher than he thought it would be. He felt sweat beads rolling down his face, he persisted even as his muscles started to get strained from the effort. He felt it was all worth it once he finally had reached the top. 

With a single breath of fresh air, relief took over him and once he breached the canopy, he felt giddy and even allowed himself to giggle a bit. His smile would not fade so soon. The sun was too bright for his unaccustomed eyes yet he refused to close them, even as tears started to well up in them. He was aware that it was a stupid thing to do, but he wanted to get a sight of everything before he had to return into the arms of darkness. He did not enjoy her embrace very much. Wind swatted his face and he took a deep breath, he felt unbothered by the aggression and gladly opened his arms to welcome it. 

He finally closed his eyes, only to focus on the feeling of the wind hitting his skin and the sun whistling songs of warmth that did not quite catch Bilbo’s ears but that somehow, he still knew were there. The tune was very soft, as if the sun was being shy and tried to make his presence forgotten in Mirkwood, he knew he was not welcomed there. Bilbo wanted to reassure him and shout that he was loved, even in Mirkwood. He wanted the sun to shine even brighter and his warmth to kiss his shivering skin. 

He left his dissatisfaction unvoiced though, he had a job to do. He looked around and he soon spotted the Lonely Mountain. They were heading in the wrong direction, no wonder it was taking so long. 

“Thorin, I know where we need to go!” He was proud of himself. 

No one answered. He stopped for a second, he could not even hear their bickering anymore. Something was wrong.

“Lumi?” She would not ignore him, he was sure of it.

No answer came back. He frowned. 

“Lumimel?” 

Still nothing. His whole body tensed. His heart started pumping faster. He did not like that, not one bit.

He heard a noise, the trees started shaking and cracking and creaking in protest. Something big was heading his direction. He plunged his head back into the canopy. He had no time to bid the sun and the wind farewell. 

He was more clumsy than he liked to admit. He took a step forward, trying to see something from where he was standing, but instead, he stumbled on something sticky, he was not sure what. He tried grasping on anything to hold him, he was sure to die as every branch he grabbed broke under his weight. Something caught him and he finally was able to hold on to a small branch. He had no time to feel relieved when a huge spider came out of nowhere and roared. Nope, nope, no one told him of enormous spiders. Had he signed up for that? He could not move, the way he had fallen on a web. He saw the monster coming at him and he wanted to scream in horror but panic made him freeze. Then everything went black.

* * *

✵✵

He woke up to the sight of an ugly, gigantic spider, he needed to do something and it needed to be fast. He thrust his sword in the abnormally large sized bug, it fell and he freed himself from the cocoon of web that was enveloping him. He stood and ran, trying to find somewhere to hide. 

He felt something in his pocket, something heavy, close to his breast. The ring. The ring Será had given him. He had forgotten about it. In the dark, it was glowing like a star. Actually, no, it was not glowing, it was sucking the light around it. The ring was alive, and Bilbo had a feeling it fed on light. Maybe not only physical light, it fed from his very soul. Bilbo shook his head, Será would never had given him such a cursed object. 

He admired it, it looked very beautiful. He wanted to try it on before Será decided she wanted it back, before she realised how precious it was. He raised his index and his other hand that held the ring was shaking, so he struggled to put it on. Once it was on, voices started rising up in his head. The spiders, he was understanding the spiders! He looked at his hand. Very precious, indeed.

‘Where is it? Where is he?’ 

They were looking for him. One even went face to face with him, but still walked past him. Invisible. Could it be? He needed to get his friends back, they were probably captured by the oversised spiders. He left where he was hiding and went out to look for them. They were putting big cocoons made out of web together. 

“Kill them now!” A spider screeched.

How could they be so utterly disgusting? He looked at part of the web and hit it hard. They all turned in his direction and ran toward him, he moved and let them pass by him, he went to free his friends but one spider had stayed. 

Why were they making his life so difficult?

He hit it and it died, not before it uttered the words ‘it stings!’. Sting, that is a good name. He cut off the huge cocoons that fell to the ground. He took off the ring, he guessed there was no more need to wear it. He did not like the way it distorted his vision.

By then, he got attacked by a spider that launched at him, he killed it. He heard the recognisable sound of something metallic hitting another surface.

The ring had fallen. Bilbo cursed, even though he was not the type to curse at all. 

Once he was finally on the ground, he went looking for it. He finally saw it, a few feet away from him. He heard another cracking sound, he turned his head, he was very worried. He needed that ring. He was focused on getting it, so it was no surprise when he killed an enormous bug to get it back. The bug could have taken it and the ring was his.

It was… it was a gift from Será. He felt tears welling up his eyes and he sobbed, what was this gift? What had he done? He was not a violent person, was he? He looked at his hands in horror as he dropped his sword. He had never felt so much rage and anger. It was so much that it made his blood boil and his heart hurt. There was so much hatred in his heart at that moment. For what? For a piece of magic ring? He was not certain why the foreigners would have given it to him, what was their real plan? Maybe they wanted him to lose himself! They were traitors! 

No, no, that was not right. He subsided the voices that were increasingly becoming agitated. He needed to breathe air and not that poisonous thing they had been inhaling ever since they stepped in Mirkwood. 

* * *

✵✵✵

He followed the elves into their beautiful palace that was a perfect balance between wild nature and very precisely calculated architecture. 

_“Silence, please.”_

Bilbo could hear a familiar voice singing in a foreign language he had ended up learning. _Barvo_ , he thought. 

Barvo had a very loud voice and it reverberated through the walls of the Elven-King.

> _“While I try to forget the pain of heartbreak_
> 
> _Don’t tell me a thing about my mistakes_
> 
> _I don’t remember anymore who left me like this_
> 
> _Today all I want is a thousand bars’ rest_
> 
> _[...]_
> 
> _If you know everything, save it_
> 
> _If you don't know anything, be quiet._
> 
> _And if needed I’ll say it again._
> 
> _Because today I will sing,_
> 
> _In my own way, I will sing_
> 
> _A song about infinity_
> 
> _[...]”_
> 
> [Para ver as meninas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRZ_GStnku4)

Then it stopped abruptly. Bilbo wondered why. The song was quite sad. Usually, he liked cheerful songs, there was too much sadness in this world, people do not need to feel blue with a song. But with Barvo it was a recurrent theme so he did not think much of it.

They rarely cried, so Bilbo guessed this was their way of expressing sadness. Though in the recent events, Bilbo noticed a drastic change in the foreigners’ character. Something was odd.

 _Stop distracting yourself,_ _you need to find them._

He followed where the sound had come from. He mourned Barvo’s silence. Because he had stopped where the hall forked into three other sections. Bilbo considered making a sound and calling Barvo. He abandoned the idea, he could not risk being found by the guards. 

Bilbo had been wandering for what he guessed were two days. Which would be fine, but he had no food or water and he was famished. He prayed that Yavanna could send her blessing his way and save him in some unexpected way. Which was when he heard Barvo’s voice. Relief had washed over him. It meant he was getting closer to them. Then the sound stopped and he started feeling dreadful again. 

> _“I like so much to see you, little lion_
> 
> _walking under the sun_
> 
> _I like you so much, little lion”_

Another song started, but now he could hear people clapping hands as well. Other voices joined though they did not seem to know the lyrics, it sounded like Fíli and Kíli. He was close, he knew he was close. He started walking as fast as he could with his frail body. He knew they would stop at some point, but they better not do it now. 

> _“All I got to do, little lion_
> 
> _To cheer up my lonely heart_
> 
> _Is to cross you on my path_
> 
> _[...]”_
> 
> [ Leãozinho, Caetano Veloso](https://youtu.be/A1WDI3vmbVI)

He may have recognised that song. He was not sure. He finally got where he wanted to. Fíli, Kíli, and Barvo had been put together. Right beside them, there was Dwalin all on his own. He smiled, he had finally found people. He approached them slowly. He checked a few times and there was no elf in sight. He took off his ring.

“I’m glad to see you are well entertained.” 

They all jumped and turned to Bilbo. 

“Master Baggins!” They all yelled.

“Shhh!” Bilbo frowned and looked around again. “I don’t want to get caught.”

“Sorry, my friend,” Dwalin told him.

“Just try to be discrete, will you?” He smiled. “Have you been enjoying music?”

Fíli grunted.

“Barvo has been singing the same song over and over. We had to beg them to change it. Other than that it’s nice, I guess.”

They all seemed very happy to see him but Barvo, who looked very serious, it was almost scary. 

“What is it, Barvo?”

“You look starving.” Was their answer. 

They went to the back of their cell and took something.

“You do look quite thin.” Kíli agreed. “How come they haven’t captured you?”

“I guess it’s just my luck.”

“You are as Gandalf said, ain’t ya? As silent as a ghost.” Dwalin laughed.

Then, Barvo pushed both Kíli and Fíli from the door.

“I knew you would be back.” They told him and held his hand. “So I kept this for you.” They gave him a few pieces of bread and other dried fruit. “This is half of my ration from the day before yesterday and from yesterday, our food of today will arrive fast.”

“Soon.” Bilbo corrected them and took the food they handed him.

“This is why you told us not to eat all of our food?” Fíli looked shocked.

“Yes.” They went back to the back of their cell.

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“I come from the future, if I tell you to do something just do it. I didn’t think you that dumb to not understand that and go and do opposition of what I say.”

“Were and opposite.” Both Fíli and Bilbo told them.

Barvo just rolled their eyes and laid down, facing the wall.

“Have you seen the others? I haven’t found anyone but you.” Bilbo told them.

“Lumi was right across from us but she has been taken by the captain of the guard, Tauriel," Kíli answered.

“When did you get the time to ask her name?” Fíli frowned.

“Well, we were walking! So I started talking a bit.” Kíli defended himself.

“Ugh!” Fíli rolled his eyes. “I swear my brother is an elf lover. First, it was Será, now it’s this Tauriel.”

“Did you see Será?” Barvo asked.

“Can you believe I was locked with two elf-lovers?” Fíli complained.

“Hey! Será is not a bad person!” Dwalin defended.

“Three elf-lovers.” 

Bilbo just tsk-ed and shook his head. 

“Knock it off, Fíli.” Bilbo ate a piece of bread, he was very hungry.

Fíli turned silent. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright. I need to go, though, I need to find the others.”

“Wait!” Barvo asked him, “If you find any of my friends, tell them I’m fine and once we are out, we will buy a new guitar in Laketown.” Bilbo frowned but nodded anyway, “I’ll have to break a lute or modify it, I think.” They said under their breath. 

He guessed they had stayed too long with Fíli and Kíli because they were accidentally speaking in Westron. He put his ring on and started walking away. All of them chose not to stay too positive because it was Barvo’s decree that they would leave that place and they knew the future.

“Why would you break an instrument?!”

“Not really break. Change it, so I can play like a guitar.”

“Oh, that does sound interesting. Would you like any help?” Kíli asked.

They were funny people. Now, he had to find Thorin, it was by then that he saw a guard holding a tray of food coming through the corridors, Tauriel, he guessed. She was being followed by a petite lady-hobbit. Bilbo realised it was Lumi. She looked very different from the last time he saw her. She was, for one, much cleaner. It was almost hard to recognise her. What was going on? Bilbo decided he had too much to do and he would meet Dwalin and Fíli later to ask them what it was about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m good, the world is beautiful and everything is awesome except the six to seven pages long essay about the aesthetics of objects in the lord of the rings described by Tolkien (inspired by medieval literary works) that I need to hand over monday that I’ve been working for three months and for some reason I can’t write properly. I swear, I love Medieval Studies and I love the Lord of the Rings so I want to do it justice I want it to be fucking good. Anyway, I have good and awesome news, I actually had written this chapter for a long time, like… a week ago. But I decided I was going to wait because I will try to post once a week so I don’t overwhelm myself. I’m trying healthy things now, said the sleep deprived college student. I love college, guys.


	16. We can't all be Será, but we can all Goddamn try

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think that it could summarised to: Lumi tries to trick the world and it kinda works?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaack! U have to say that it took me a while to recover and finals sucked the life out of me but I am good now. and shall be for a while. ps I hope I pass this year. But anyway, this year has been a bitch. Happy holidays my dudes! BTW, yes this chapter is short because I am trying to get back at it, but I’ll do it slowly, you know what I mean? Like, test the waters and stuff.

## Lumi

Being Thranduil’s jester was not as bad as she thought it would be. She was not happy, but it was okay. She had food and a lot more comfort. Another good thing was that Será was healing much faster now and after having some setbacks, she was coming back with full force. It was satisfying to watch. She also realised that she was being treated differently than her friends, and Velaar and Será had the best treatment. Although only Velaar seemed to receive attention for her looks.

She was categorized as beautiful. Not that the others were not, but the court seemed so fixated on describing Velaar’s skin as fair light or whatever. The court first tried talking to them in Sindarin but they looked so puzzled that only the few that knew Westron would talk to them. 

She thought that it would be it, that they would not be entertaining if they spoke other languages. However, the court seemed delighted by the sound of their native tongue. It had only been two days and Lumi was sure things would go down badly. 

Sure, it amused the crowds for now, but how long would it be before they lost interest? She was not sure it would last long. 

The king requested that they were taught Sindarin, they all complied. The language was so different from any she had ever heard. It sounded gracious like a flute doing a solo in an orchestra. If well done, it was pleasing to the ear, if done by a beginner who is blowing it for the very first time in his life without any guidelines or instructions, it ought to sound a whole lot less gracious. It felt like this to her. 

They all told tales of the future to the king, some old folklore about a spirit of the forest, told by Alê, another about the guardian of the waters. Then they showed him things, such as modern music on their phones, they told him about funny stories that happened to them but the king kept the same expression on his face most of the time.

He tried making them show how to use their phones and they refused to. They preferred to make sure they held all control over it. If he got bored of them, at least he would still need them because they could use a cellphone and he could not. 

One thing that annoyed Lumi was that they did not allow them to see Barvo. Thranduil made it very clear that it made no sense for them, elves, to want to see the dwarves when they were the enemy. The problem was evident, Thranduil did not want dwarves and elves to interact. Lumi decided it would be safer if she was the one to beg Thranduil to allow her visits. She asked for an audience with the king. 

Which was why she was in the throne room, bowing to the king.

_“Why would you wish to see such foul creatures, halfling?”_

_“Because not all of them were aware of Thorin’s intentions. One of them, particularly, was our companion before we met Thorin. We have known each other for years, now. I know they did not scheme with the rest of the company.”_

_“How could you know? These are treacherous people.”_

_“Yes, but the others have known them for their whole lives and I would vouch for them.”_

_"Interesting."_ Thranduil rested his face. _“And who will vouch for you?”_

Who would vouch for her? Lumi frowned.

 _“You see, all of you are still on trial.”_ Thranduil smiled innocently, but she could tell he knew more than she could ever dream of, _“Or did you think that coming in my throne room and announcing you come from the future was all it took to be welcomed in my court?”_

Lumi’s eyes widened.

_“B-but you sai-”_

_“I said nothing. If I remember well, I told you that you would entertain me two evenings ago, during supper. Then I told you to do the same thing the other two evenings. I never announced you could take a place in my court.”_

_“But Velaar and Alelebela told me you offered them a place-”_

The king laughed at that. It was at least a bit of a relief that there were not many courtiers in the room that evening.

 _“Yes, I offered to the_ **_elflings_ ** _to be part of my court.”_

Lumi gasped and threw a ‘son of a bitch!’ in her native tongue, realising what the King was implying. 

_“So, as I was saying, who will vouch for you?”_

_“Well, I am sure the Alelebela and Velaar could vouch-”_

_“Yes, they could indeed, but they are not of age yet, I don’t know if I trust the words of a child. If I think about it, neither are you? How old are you?”_

_“I’m twenty-one, I’m of age among my people.”_ Technically, Lumi was not lying.

She was a human and twenty-one was considered of age. She doubted Thranduil would know anything about hobbits to contest her information anyway.

_“I see. You still can’t vouch for the dwarf you wish to see.”_

_“I’ll vouch for her, my liege.”_ The captain of the guard stepped up. 

Lumi gaped. Had she ever talked to that woman? She was not sure. She would make sure she did from then on. Thranduil did not seem very happy with that turn of events.

_“Tauriel.”_

Her jaw dropped. So she was Tauriel? The Tauriel? She looked gorgeous and honestly, less cold than she did in the movies.

They started a discussion that Lumi could not follow with her total of two hours of Sindarin classes.

_“Tauriel will vouch for you and your friend. You are allowed to visit them.”_

Well, then, that went faster than she thought it would go.

* * *

### ✵

They were walking down the corridors, an awkward silence had settled between them. Lumi looked up, Tauriel was impressively tall. She looked very strong as well, her arms were thick, probably from practising the bow and arrow for extended periods. Tauriel took a quick peep at her then went back to looking straight ahead of her.

She moved astonishingly fast too, Lumi’s eyes went to their feet moving. She tried to follow the same rhythm and take larger steps, but she just looked ridiculous, it looked like she was pretending to walk on the moon. She decided to walk in her rhythm and when she started to fall behind, she just made a small run to keep walking at Tauriel’s feet. Now she looked like a puppy. At least puppies were cute, she told herself.

 _“Why did you vouch for me?”_ Her voice sounded a bit rough, but she needed to ask, she needed to know.

_“I don’t know, to be honest. I usually never do things spontaneously like this. I think it had to do with how he treated you because of your race. I don’t like it.”_

_“Did he treat you similarly or something like that?”_ She took another glance at Tauriel, never quite meeting her eyes.

 _“Something like that.”_ She left it there for so long that Lumi thought she was done. _“I felt something was different with you four, you have a bond and you share something, it’s almost as if you were from the same kind.”_

Almost. 

_“This does not explain it. We barely spoke, you are taking a huge risk by vouching for me.”_

_“Not if you don’t cause any trouble. Will you?”_ She sounded dangerous, threatening.

Never let it be said that Lumi did not take a hint.

_“I don’t think I will. At least, not for a long time, I won't.”_

Was two months even considered a long time to elves? Probably not. She could almost feel pity for Tauriel, for the fate she would most definitely meet once they ran away. The fate she would meet for vouching for her. Guilt was a stronger feeling than pity in that moment. They started making their way to where the dwarves were being kept as prisoners. Tauriel was holding a large tray of food.

_“There is more to it, isn’t it?”_

_“Maybe I just wanted to know who that friend of yours was.”_ That was an acceptable answer, curiosity often was what started leading things astray. 

They finally reached the dungeons and they were getting close, according to Tauriel. She knew she had already been there, but she had no idea where to go, she was thankful for Tauriel going with her, even if it was technically her duty. 

As they walked down the corridors, Lumi felt something passing by her. She looked in that direction and somehow she knew and that knowledge made her happy.

Bilbo had made it., she smiled and wondered if he was smiling at her too.

* * *

### ✵✵

“Barvo!” 

Lumi went running towards their cell, where Fíli and Kíli were playing games with their hands. The both of them abruptly stood up, trying to play it casual, as if they were not playing a child’s game a few seconds ago. Barvo was lying in their bed, their face turned to the wall. 

_“Hello, mistress Tauriel, Lumi.”_ Kíli nodded at the both of them.

Lumi ignored him and called Barvo again. Barvo turned around, they did not look well. She had no time to care for their mental state right now, though. She needed to tell them a lot of things. She looked at Tauriel, who was eying curiously at Kíli, Fíli and Barvo. She gave them their food and stepped back.

 _“I see we deserve no greetings,”_ Dwalin told her from his cell.

Then Tauriel did something unexpected, she put herself between Lumi and the cells that held Dwalin, Fíli, Kíli and Barvo.

 _“Naturally.”_ Tauriel was angry, _“Not after Thorin Oakenshield confessed his intention of using the Mistress hobbit and the elflings,”_

 _“What?!”_ Kíli’s confusion was laughable.

If it was not making her nervous. According to Alê, the only reason why Thranduil had left them off the hook was because Thorin had convinced him they were being used and they had no idea where the company was headed. To be honest, Thorin seemed to have changed so much this time around that she hoped he would have accepted Thranduil’s deal. No such luck. The point was, she needed Kíli to act as if he was aware of the plan all along. Lumi looked at Tauriel, feeling guilty. She needed to find a way to make him understand, because gestures were not doing it, she thought as she tried to warn him to play along.

 _“What are you talking about?”_ Fíli strode to the door of their cell, looking like a proud lion, with a puffed-up chest and gritted teeth.

_“Well, it was Thorin who said it. Perhaps they didn’t have anything to do with it.”_

Tauriel narrowed her eyes and took a few steps back.

 _“Perhaps.”_ She looked suspiciously at Lumi.

Neutral was not a good idea for an encrypted message. She decided to give a try at Polist. It was the language that differentiated itself the most from archaic.

“Barvo, listen to me. Bilbo is alive,”

Barvo turned their head, with a puzzled look in their face.

 _“Holy shit, even my Polist is better than that,”_ Kíli exclaimed.

 _“Language! We are in the presence of a lady.”_ Dwalin told them.

 _“I don’t mind…”_ Tauriel started.

 _“I was not talking about you,”_ Dwalin snorted.

Ouch, she had forgotten all about their hatred of dwarves.

“Bilbo is alive,” she insisted, trying to pronounce her words better.

Then, Barvo’s face went from confusion to understanding, then they shrugged. Barvo looked bored. They were not there, they were day-dreaming, probably imagining a million scenes where they would meet again with their family.

“I know, we just saw him.” was the answer.

“Okay, Será, Velaar and Alê alive too.” She smiled. 

“Are you well? Is Será doing okay?”

“Yes, healing.”

“Good. Bilbo is looking for the others, do you want me to tell him anything?”

“Yes, tell him Thorin is… deep?”

Maybe she should have taken a little bit of Polist classes.

“What?”

 _“I think this is enough time as it is. The guards have to bring food to the other prisoners and I have to take you back.”_ Tauriel took the tray back, not before stealing a glance at Kíli one more time.

 _“Can’t I see the others?”_ Lumi pleaded.

 _“The king was very explicit when he said you could only see your friend.”_ She started making her way back. 

_“But he never said which friend. Maybe you just brought me to the wrong friend.”_

_“You won’t win over this.”_

Kíli clicked his tongue.

 _“Before you go, let’s sing a little song. Barvo, come over here.”_ He announced.

Barvo turned to Kíli.

_“What?”_

_“You sing the second voice.”_

Kíli started singing and Barvo sang along. Kíli’s voice was rich and heavy, the way he used so much air to sing was beautiful, his voice was deep. Barvo’s started as a whisper but then it grew louder, only turning silent when they did not seem sure if they were singing in the right pitch. Barvo’s voice was very high. 

Lumi looked at Tauriel and was surprised to find her transfixed on their performance. She even slightly opened her mouth in an o shape. 

_“Thank you, Kíli and Barvo, I loved to hear it.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I would be back. I am back because I'm a person of my word. I am an honorable little thing okay? :3 Also, I need to rewatch The hobbit and reread it, details seem to be constantly slipping through my mind and I want to be more or less accurate on the events. Yes, I made Tauriel black, but this choice had more to do with explaining why she is somewhat treated differently by everybody else, she is not taken seriously just by the King. I chose to make it different enough that even the travelers could see she is different. I did not make her asian though, because I have no asian heritage and would probably fuck it right up, I would probably make her a token character which is a disservice tbh.


	17. In case of gay thoughts, loneliness is to blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin stayed too long on his own and that is totally the reason why he is having gay thoughts gay. Maybe Velaar and Alê have a little conversation. You know, the usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I had a major author's block and it sucks cause I was ready to come full force, but for now I am still writing some of the stuff. I feel like at least I got out of my flunk, you know? I mean, I won't lie, this will be hard to upload every day of the week, I think that I'll start posting either once every two weeks either once a month. I need time to write, I wrote this in two weeks time. I took me time because I felt that this was what I needed to do. So, I needed a bit of Thorin and Bilbo exchange because I want the gay. I'm just saying... Also, yes a bit of more gay happens in this chap and I am sorry not sorry? Listen, I have to say I think my uploads will be irregular.

# Thorin

While it was not hell per se, his cell was damp and cold, and the walls smelled. He never thought such a thing to be possible. Disgust was what he felt. These elves could not even keep a cell smelling decently but then went on to call dwarves barbarians? Ridiculous. He felt lonely too. He wondered if it would be long before he saw a familiar face again. Hell, he wished he had someone to talk to. Although he was never of the talkative kind, he found himself craving company other than the guard that kept him fed. The time he had spent in the cell had been an alarming total of six days. He guessed it had been two days, but isolation was making him lose the notion of time. Maybe Bilbo would come, he had not seen him at all, so he was probably roaming in the castle, for some reason he trusted that was the case, call it instinct if you will. He would then boast about his good deed, of how he was of help to the elflings and his dear Hobbit lady, although Thorin was not really one to boast either.

He had never even dreamed of protecting the foreigners if he was to be honest to himself. Perhaps Bilbo was right, and the foreigners had touched a few strings in his heart, and started playing some melancholic tune with it. Whatever it was, it made Thorin feel quite sorry for them. It was a relief to know that their life would not worsen, and in the end, he had reunited the elflings with their kind. He did not understand Velaar’s outraged reaction. He was saving their lives, could it be that the foreigners were more foolish than what he had deemed in the past? Even if his assumption was correct, he was glad he had saved their ungrateful asses. It had nothing to do with the fact that he knew that the news would make Bilbo proud. He just wanted to make him happy, he guessed. He liked Bilbo's smile.

Ugh, his confined days were making his mind go in circles. The topics did not vary by much: from the smell of the cell, to loneliness, to Bilbo, to the foreigners, then back to the smell of the cell. Then, of course, his mind would occasionally travel to the halls of Erebor when he fell asleep. What a waste of time, it had only been six days, and Thorin was already dreaming of when he would be busting out. At least they were early, if he was to believe the foreigners. 

"Pst, Thorin!"

A gasp came out of his lips. He ought to be more vigilant, he thought as he chastised himself. Thorin recognised the voice, but he was wrong for it could not be Bilbo. His mind was playing tricks with him again.

"Bilbo?" For some reason, he still asked. 

Mayhap he was feeling more hopeful than he cared to admit.

"Yes! Yes, it is I, Bilbo. Thorin, I'm here." Bilbo let out a breathy laughter, sounding relieved. 

"I must say it took you quite some time to reach me."

"And I must say you did not make it easy to find you. What have you done to the king for him to send you so deep into his dungeon, anyway?"

"I kidnapped three of his subjects and planned to use them as a bargaining chip." Thorin joked. 

Kind of, even if he did not, he was, you know, still being accused of doing it. Bilbo sighed loudly.

"So that is why Lumi, Velaar, Alê and Será are roaming freely around the castle? You know that that was a risky move. I can't believe you would make such a reckless decision!"

Wait, that was not how it was supposed to go. 

"I saved their lives, Bilbo! I protected them, freed them, and now we have not one, but five people in the company walking free!"

"Shh!" Bilbo finally stepped out of wherever he was and Thorin took him in for the first time. Bilbo looked like a bone, pale and thin, he did not seem very healthy. Thorin despised the image before him.

"When was the last time you ate?" 

"It doesn't matter Thorin, you can't escape this conversation." Bilbo stood his ground.

But so would Thorin.

"Neither can you. When was the last time you ate?"

"I asked you first."

"Are you a toddler? It matters little who asked what first when one of the two is a king."

"I reckon that a king without a kingdom is not much." 

Ouch, Thorin winced, and Bilbo looked apologetic.

"I am sorry Thorin, I promise I will answer that question, but later, there are more urgent matters,"

"Which are?"

"I have a plan. Well, not just me, the whole company is working, we built a communication system and now we have information coming in and out of the dungeons."

"And in the meantime you were looking for me?"

Bilbo frowned "Well, yes. Why?"

"It seems like you made yourself so busy that you haven't eaten in days."

"Again with this, Thorin? I will have you know that I thanks to me, Lumi and the elflings we have an escape plan. Which is, as you should know: of the most utter importance. Another thing, you don't look so hardy yourself."

"I shall hear you once I see you eating. I refused to eat this elvish food." Bilbo made a face "However, I must remind you that as a dwarf, I am a very enduring person."

Bilbo seemed personally offended by Thorin's stubbornness. It was not as if he had not eaten anything, he just refused to eat lembas. Thorin stayed in silence, though. He gave him the bread and Bilbo side-eyed him, unsure whether or not to take it. Thorin kept silent until Bilbo gave in and took the bread. Thorin caressed his moustache to hide a blooming smile. Bilbo did not need to know that he made him smile with his cuteness. Not that Thorin found him cute. But maybe if Bilbo was a girl... Honestly, loneliness was turning him into something else. Bilbo had not seemed to notice, but if he had, he kept it quiet. Better this way, Thorin thought. It was by then that Bilbo let out a satisfied moan.

"This is good."

"If you did not look as famished, I would have questioned your sanity and taste. However, I will let this slide as long as you keep eating. I truly hope you happen to have the chance to taste dwarven cuisine one day."

"Haven't I eaten that while we were travelling?"

"I am talking about a feast worthy of a King."

"Oh, I thought I looked like a greengrocer, and I don't think they have the right to attend royal feasts."

What was Bilbo going on about?

"I said I was sorry."

"Maybe, but it still hurts."

"Well, I am." Thorin started to feel his body getting hotter.

He was angry, and strong emotions always made his temperature rise. 

"Are you?" Bilbo came nose-to-nose with him, as they were both touching the doors of the cell.

"Yes, I am. I am sorry, Bilbo. I told you this once, and I am telling you this again: I was wrong and I am sorry for hurting you, my friend."

Bilbo smiled gently and he left his head resting on one of the bars of the cell.

"Thank you."

Now Thorin was confused. Bilbo looked at him, and his smile was still there, although it looked a bit shy.

"Thank you for saving Lumi and the other girls."

Thorin felt his heart swelling with something that was not pride, it was lighter and made him feel good. His stomach started doing flips. He must have been starving, more so than what he had realised. 

"I could not do anything for Barvo, I am sorry."

"I know, but Barvo found a way."

"What do you mean?"

"They became Thranduil's bard."

"What?!"

"Yes, although Thranduil still swears he requests their songs only to prove dwarven music is barbarian." This made Thorin's jaw tighten. What a witch. 

"So why does he call them still?"

"I do not know, but I think he enjoys it. Even if the first time was a bit rocky." Bilbo cleared his throat. "It is a long story..." He took one final bite of the lembas (it was not a large piece anyway) and dusted out his hands "Now that I have eaten, will you listen to my plan?"

Thorin grumbled a yes.

"Good."

"According to the foreigners, there is a party where the guards should be distracted. That is when we take advantage."

"You told me a possible when, not a how. In truth, when I come to think of that, you did not even say a when."

"Okay, I'll give you a when: in a month and three weeks, give or take."

Thorin's heart dropped at that. He was going to lose his mind, that much was certain. He let his body slide on the wall until he sat down in an overdramatic manner. No one was watching anyway. Except Bilbo perhaps, but he did not mind Thorin being extra. At least he hoped so, or else things were going to get really awkward, really soon.

"Oh, I am sorry. Am I not working fast enough for your royal ass?" Bilbo smirked, Thorin did not have to see it, he could hear it in his voice.

"I swear I preferred it when you had not found your courage yet. You were less sassy." Thorin was also smirking.

"I was always sassy, you just never got none of it because you were too focused being a dick."

Thorin scoffed at that. This was entertaining, the bickering had no heat in it, it was for show. Thorin found comfort in knowing he could just be and he hoped that the same went for Bilbo.

"I guess you are right."

"I am always right."

"You are adorable." Thorin winced, maybe it was not the most proper thing to say to a friend.

"Oh, I know. I can be scary too if need be, though. Ask Lobelia." Bilbo did not seem phased by it in the least. 

At that, Thorin snorted and muffled his laughter with his hands.

"I shall."

"You are adorable yourself."

"Oh, am I, now?" He felt his cheeks heating.

So, calling each other adorable and complementing each other was something they did in the Shire? Thorin liked that. 

"Yes, it's adorable how you think that people see you as this legendary warrior made of brooding and frowning. When people know you are a softie at heart."

"I am not... I don't always brood."

"Yes, well, you sure spend a large amount of your time doing it."

"I just have a lot going on in my mind."

"A misunderstood genius you are."

"Shut up." But Thorin was smiling.

Steps started coming over them and Bilbo stood up. He approached Thorin and gave him a light pat on his hand, which was holding one of the jails bar. 

"I will see you in a couple of days, there is much to do, and I cannot come over every day. But I am glad I found you."

"I am glad you found me too." But Bilbo was already gone and Thorin started feeling emptiness again. 

Damn that burglar, now it was the only thing he could think about.

* * *

# ✵

# Velaar

They were given one day and Velaar wanted to enjoy the second break they had been allowed to in those two weeks. Working six days a week was hard. The King did not request the company of Velaar, Alê or Será that morning, and he wanted to dedicate the whole afternoon to listen to music from the ‘future’. Lumi and Barvo were the ones singing. Kíli was not authorised to, since he was not from the future, even if he knew a few songs. 

Thranduil had invited them to stay in the throneroom to listen to Lumi and Barvo. However, Velaar had something better in mind. She was a bit done with the court, and went looking for her friends. It would be nice to put their plan to action. She knocked on the door of Alê's and Será's room.

"Hey, Alê, Será do you guys want to explore the castle?" She slowly opened the door. 

Alê looked up from making her bed, and Será was putting a bag on her shoulder. Velaar could feel the awkwardness, she could feel it in her tongue, it tasted bitter like black coffee, she made a face. 

"What is it? Did my breakfast stay stuck on my teeth?" She went for a mirror.

"No, sorry, it's just... Será and I had other plans, and the elves are watching us anyway, we can't honestly explore anything, you know."

"Okay, then. How else do you want to spend your free day?" She was fine by doing something else, she eagerly wanted to have some fun time with her friends.

"With Será." Velaar had no idea what face she made, but it was undoubtedly a pitiful one as Alê winced. "I'm sorry, but I have things to deal with her."

"I can speak for myself," Será growled. "But yes, she's right, we have things to deal with." She shrugged and left the room with Alê.

Well, that was strange. 

During the day, they kept avoiding her. She then decided she was not going along with that pile of bullshit and went to find Tauriel to ask her to take her to Lumi and Barvo. She refused, saying the King wanted to ensure their voices were in perfect state. She wanted to throw a bag of chips on someone's head. She would have done it if she had one, but they were all with Será and she had given it to the Gollum. She figured it was alright, considering it was a life or death situation and then Será had had that terrible concussion and almost died. So she let it slide. She still regretted the bag of chips, though.

When the afternoon came she resolved to attend to the King's invitation. Everything seemed perfectly fine, except for the fact that Alê and Será had chosen to come as well. They purposely took a seat far from her, leaving her to sit with Tauriel. At least she was attractive. Tauriel usually was not permitted to sit with the court. However, on that day, the King had made an exception.

Velaar kept throwing glances at Alê and Será, seriously, she had no clue what was up. They never stayed apart from each other in situations like these. After a while, she heard a 'psst' from Tauriel who was looking curiously at her.

“What is it?” She whispered in an airy breath, “Are you quarrelling?”

Smooth, but not smooth enough for Velaar not to understand that Tauriel was doing her job as the captain of the guard, gathering information about them. She wondered if anyone else could hear the whisper, and the answer was probably. At least, that was what she gathered from the look Legolas sent her. He was eating with his father. To entertain people by eating in front of them was a strange habit at the very least. She reckoned it was easier to criticise when one had a whole other experience in life. 

She downed the glass of wine they had offered her. She was a bit of a drinker, and there was no shame in admitting it. In her defence, she had rarely indulged herself to drinking during their whole adventure. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she took it. It was just as strong as she remembered. This was good, she needed it. Alê gave her a look, to which Velaar answered by slightly raising her cup and giving her a nod in a toasting gesture. Alê imitated her and so did Será.

“Why are we so far from Velaar? Don’t you want to move up closer?” She heard Será whispering to her.

“There is no seat by her.” Alê avoided her eyes.

“I can hear you, Alelebela.” Velaar crossed her arms and frowned, glaring at her.

“You are all very noisy. I have no idea what is the matter.” 

The voice of the King reverberated through the room. The music stopped and he stood up.

“But I expect you to take your conversation outside.”

Whatever, she thought, as she rolled her eyes. They left and once they were out, she headed towards Alê and Será.

"Listen, I don't mind that you were not by my side." She told her right away, because she like Tauriel despite everything. "I just... I feel like you have been avoiding me the whole day. I will say I'm a bit disappointed in both of you, mostly you Será."

"Me?! She's the one who's been avoiding you! Why do I always get all the bad stuff?!" 

"We are supposed to be p-l-a-n-i-n-g. We have one free day and you out it to waste?"

"Did you... did you just spell?" Será frowned, "You know that I'm too slow to get spelling."

"p-l-a-n... you forgot one 'n' by the way," Alê commented as she caressed her non-existent beard.

"Fuck, I can't spell," Velaar muttered under her breath. "The point still stands, though. We were supposed to take advantage of this moment."

"I know, but can we not get one careless day."

"I don't know. Do any of the... small-sized people," the word 'dwarf' sounded too similar to their language, "have that choice? Can Barvo have a careless day? No, they have been closed in a dungeon for two weeks. Two. Weeks. And here we are, doing nothing, chilling like it's some sort of vacation day?"

"We can't do much if my brain is still recovering. I need this." Será always knew when it was time for a break. 

"Okay, then why can't we use that time together? Why avoid me? We have barely spoken of anything else other than an escape route."

"No, don't give me that shit." Será started walking back at her chambers.

"What?" Velaar looked at her in disbelief, was she just leaving her?

"Deal with your issues on your own. Alê was the one avoiding you. I was just trying to put some sense into her feeble little mind." She kept walking.

"You traitorous little piece of sh..." Alê grumbled once she was left under the spotlight by Será.

"So, what is it? What have I done?" Velaar was not up to wasting time. 

Time was precious, no matter how much you had. 

"We are spending too much time together." Alê blurted out.

"What?" Okay, so she was not expecting that.

"Vel, I... I'm scared that we are spending too much time together and I've been having some confusing feelings and it's too much." She said it all in one breath.

Ouch, it hurt but she understood, kind of.

"So you need space?"

"Yes! My mind and my heart are just doing wild circles around each other, and frankly speaking, it's exhausting." 

"Why did you not talk to me earlier?" Velaar felt her voice cracking.

So what if she understood? It did not make it hurt any less. Why did Alê think that isolating her for a whole afternoon was the best course of action to solve her issues with her? 

"I'm sorry, I just. I was freaking out. I feel too much when I'm close to you. I don't know if I like it." Alê was panicking, Velaar could hear it in her voice. "You don't need to cry, Vel."

She had not realised she had been crying up until now. Her tears started streaming down her face and so she tried looking at the sky and ferociously blinking her eyes to make them stop, but they just coming instead.

"Stop it! What about my feelings? Do you think I like pining for your stupid-pretty face? Hm?"

Perhaps she should have kept that last bit for herself, but now it was too late, the cat was out and had now run away. Ever tried putting a cat back in a box? It is near impossible.

"You like me?"

"Oh my God! No, I just let random people ruin my flawless escape plans." She choked.

"It means you trust me."

"Yeah, well, maybe. But you know this is not it. I love you, and I mean, we all love each other. I love Barvo, Será and Lumi too, don't get me wrong..." She babbled as she gripped her dress to calm herself down.

"But it's different, isn't it?" Alê interrupted her, she looked calm and it made Velaar feel at ease for some reason.

"Maybe, but you know it doesn't matter because you don't." 

They both looked at each other, and all tension went away. There was just them, and it felt peaceful inside for once.

"You are wrong, I have these different feelings too. I just need time to sort it out, I never thought of you and I together when we were back home and then suddenly... "

"It doesn't matter. Do you see where we are? When we are? We were already burnt once on the stake. I don't want to burn again for loving you." Velaar whispered.

Alê's head dropped, and her shoulders slumped. 

"What do we do then?"

"We lie to ourselves, we hope one day we can get back home. You could try to sort it out in the meantime, and then maybe when we are out of here, we could be together. There's nothing more we can do."

"I don't like your plan."

Velaar laughed at that, because was it not all very ridiculous? They were trying to be heroes to a place that would condemn them for being themselves. It was all very paradoxical if you asked her.

“We don’t have a choice. Sort it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter so many times but nothing was feeling right. Jesus fucking Christ, now I have so many cut out scenes and I don't know what to do with them. I needed to develop a bit Thorin's and BIlbo's friendship and, yes, I needed for Velaar and Alê to just say it. Hopefully I won't take as long to write it. but I think that we will be good. Maybe I'll post the deleted scenes in the series. I think it could be fun. I wrote the scene where Barvo plays a song to Thranduil for the first time and it doesn't go that well, for reasons. Tell me if it interests you.


End file.
